


Sustenance

by Zoi no miko (zoi_no_miko)



Series: Cracktastic Vampire AU [2]
Category: 24 (TV), Dark City (1998), Eleventh Hour (US TV), Lost Boys (1987), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Crack Crossover, Doppelcest, Dubious Science, Explicit Sexual Content, Government Experimentation, I'm so sorry he's gonna fuck everyone at some point - Freeform, Imprisonment, M/M, Multifandom Crossover, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Polyamory, Threesome - M/M/M, Vampire Family, Vampire Sex, Vampires, area 51, dick patents, kissing against a wall makes you invisible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:01:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5684488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoi_no_miko/pseuds/Zoi%20no%20miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Investigating a fallen star off the shores of Santa Carla brings an unexpected visitor to David's flock. Fortunately David has ways to deal with things like this, even if they do make Michael a little jealous. Meanwhile, Dr. Jacob Hood is called in to consult on a very mysterious case in Area 51....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You asked for it. Don't blame me.

Doctor Jacob Hood had consulted on a lot of strange cases for the FBI, seen a lot of strange things. They'd flown him all over America, and in a couple of rather nice circumstances, outside of it. But the destination that Rachel was driving him towards now, through dusty back roads in Nevada, wasn't one he'd ever expected to be sent to.

"So," he started, looking out the window and trying to see through the cloud of dust being kicked up by the humvee driving in front of them in the convoy. "Do you think it'll be like in all the movies? All... blinking lights and lasers and retina scans?"

Rachel glanced over, bemused. "You're like a kid on Christmas, aren't you, Hood? I didn't know you were into this kind of thing."

"A gentleman of science welcomes all knowledge. Whether it is fact or fiction becomes apparent soon enough. But you and I both know that the government is entirely capable of carrying out very impressive large scale cover ups. Who knows what we'll see out here?"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Rachel replied, slowing as they approached a gate in a high chain link fence that was topped with curls of barbed wire. Two soldiers approached the humvee, checking identification. "We're only cleared to do the lab work they've called you in for."

Jacob grinned. "But don't you know by now that the lab is one of the most exciting places to be?" He handed his ID and consultant badge to Rachel, who passed it out the window with her own to the guard. Cleared, they drove forward into the heart of Area 51.

It didn't surprise Jacob that it took more time it took to set up their access than it had to actually drive out. The lab attendants took full biometric samples, fingerprints, and even the anticipated retinal scan. Partway through having several vials of blood drawn, Rachel looked over at him, confused.

"Hood... why the blood?"

"Security precaution," the attending nurse replied before Jacob could. "We keep samples of everyone's blood so that in the event of an unanticipated viral attack or anything of the like we have clean samples to work with. It also goes into the DNA bank so that the computer can rule out any possible contamination from the staff while testing samples."

Something about the explanation didn't sit right with Jacob, and he filed it away for future cross examination. He simply nodded, and pressed down on the cotton ball as indicated as the nurse finally pulled the needle from his arm.

"Hey, Dr. Hood! Rachel! You made it!"

They turned to find the familiar voice approaching from the end of the lab. Felix was grinning from ear to ear, which wasn't particularly abnormal, in a lab coat with goggles on his head. He followed another man, tall and broad-shouldered with auburn hair. He looked a little too thin, though, a little too pale under the smattering of freckles. Jacob stood, and gave a nod to them both. "Hello, Felix. Mister...?"

"Doctor Henry Jekyll," the second man supplied, offering a hand. He had a generous mouth that turned up into a smile, making him seem instantly more welcoming.

"Jacob Hood," Jacob replied, taking the offered hand firmly. "Henry Jekyll? That's an interesting moniker for a doctor, if you don't mind me saying."

"Hereditary, I'm afraid," Jekyll replied, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "But that's a conversation for another day. Thank you for coming, Doctor Hood. Please come with me, and I'll brief you on the situation."

Rachel fell into step behind him with Felix as they left the room, eyes roaming over the surroundings, taking everything in carefully. Hood was quite familiar with the workings of her mind when it came to doing her job, and there was a certain amount of comfort in the normalcy of it. They were taken past a checkpoint that required a swipe card, thumb print and a vocal reading, then down another hall and finally into a large laboratory.

Jekyll stopped at a lab bench and handed the files over to Jacob. "I understand that you are accustomed to dealing with sensitive material, Dr. Hood. Please know that this tops anything that you've done before. There will be details of this case that even you won't be made privy to, for your protection."

"Of course," Jacob agreed, and started to leaf through the top file, finding medical stats. "Can you tell me what it is you want me to do here?"

Jekyll swallowed. "Well," he started slowly, "we have a subject in custody here that... that may have been exposed to dangerous materials of possible extraterrestrial origin. Unfortunately you won't be able to see him, but I am his primary physician and will act as a go between with any medical issues you wish to investigate. You're here primarily because of your expertise in genetics and biology. We need to find out why and how he has been changed from this contact. We have a number of samples for you to test, as well as the substance he may have been exposed to, and all of his symptoms are listed in this file."

"I assume there is no regular medical explanation for this?" Jacob flipped the page, frowning.

Jekyll's watch beeped, and he shot it a rather annoyed look. "I'm sorry. Excuse me for a moment." An unlabelled pill bottle was pulled from one of the pockets of his lab coat, and he took a small blue pill dry before tucking it away. "My apologies. No, there is absolutely nothing medically conclusive, unfortunately."

"Hm." Jacob set the file down and gave a nod. "Thank you, Doctor. We'll take it from here." He watched Jekyll leave.

Rachel picked up one of the other files and looked it over. "They really did just bring you here just to do lab work? Isn't this a bit below you, Hood?"

"To figure out a puzzle," Jacob corrected with a smile. "And don't worry, you're both going to be doing lab work, too."

~~~

Henry Jekyll nodded to the marines guarding the set of revolving doors before leaning in for a retinal scan that allowed him access. He was used to the security at Area 51, he'd been there for most of his adult life. But it still made him feel uneasy and slightly caged. In a way, he mused, he was.

Henry had been warned about Jacob Hood, but meeting the man had still been rather disconcerting. He slipped through another door took him to a smaller lab, darkened, with a large window overlooking the room where their subject was kept. The man inside was strapped to the hospital bed he was in, an IV in his arm dripping a constant stream of drugs into his bloodstream. His skin was waxy and pale, but beaded with sweat, and his eyes, though open, stared out into the room without seeing anything.

"How is he?"

The nurse observing shook his head. "No change, Doctor. We've managed to regulate his body temperature with the heating blanket, but there's still little to no response to stimulation."

"Thank you." Henry tied a mask over his mouth and nose and screwed in a pair of dense foam earplugs before scrubbing up, then went inside. There was nothing about this situation that he liked or agreed with - usually when there were people here they were tested and released without harm. But this man had been in the facility for almost a week, and his condition had only gone from bad to worse. Strangely, they couldn't find the source of the deterioration. He'd been wounded in the crash where he was found, bones broken, with multiple skin abrasions, but that had all healed within hours of his arrival. His body was whole, but he still continued to get more sick.

The earplugs were not quite enough to drown out the shrill, high pitched sound that was pumped into the room. It was designed to interrupt higher brain functions, as they'd discovered that even while drugged within an inch of his life the subject still somehow managed to move and alter physical objects with his mind. His CT and EKG's scans were fascinating, and Henry was of the opinion that they should have had Doctor Hood working with those instead of wasting him on the wild goose chase he'd been set on. But that, like everything else, was not his decision to make.

He took the man's pulse and blood pressure by touch, which was an old and familiar process and calmed his nerves somewhat. What he didn't expect was for green eyes to be turned to his, surprisingly lucid for the first time since Henry had seen him brought in.

"Please... help me. Turn off... that noise."

God, even the voice was the same. He gave the man a sympathetic smile, though it couldn't be seen through the mask. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "They've decided that you're dangerous... and I don't have a say in it. I'm just your doctor."

The man's eyes closed for a moment, and Henry thought that perhaps he'd passed out again. Then he spoke again. "I need... the blood. The vials. I can't...." he words ended in a shuddering groan of pain, and Henry closed his own eyes for a moment.

"Do you know what's wrong with you?" he said softly. "Can you tell me where you came from? Anything you can tell us might make this over sooner."

"I'll die without it." The man's eyes cracked open again, focusing on him. "Let me leave. Please. I need... Daniel...."

"I'm sorry," Henry said again, and reached out in pretense of mopping the sweat from his brow with a bandage, letting his fingers brush against his skin as he did. The man's skin was still cold to the touch, unnaturally so, and he shivered under Henry's fingers. "I don't have the power to help you," he told the man. "I'm as trapped here as you are. I'm sorry."

The man's eyes closed with a shuddering sigh. "John."

"What?"

"John Murdoch." He wet his lips, looking up at Henry with great effort. "I'm... I'm a person, not a lab rat. Don't... don't leave me like this."

His entreaty was too painful, too familiar, and all Henry could do was pull away and leave the room, trying to make himself forget everything he'd heard.


	2. Chapter 2

It surprised even David, sometimes, how much Santa Carla had changed in twenty years. Perhaps it had a little to do with it no longer being the murder capital of the world. In the aftermath of the stand off with the Emersons, they'd reached a few agreements on living peaceably. Jilted and jaded, Max had then decided to snooze for some undisclosed period of time, which was fine with David. It was easier to run things without his demands and interference.

Within a few years he'd moved the boys out of the caves and into Max's house. He was tired of playing Peter Pan, and there was more than enough investments and money stashed away to pay for whatever they needed, for as long as they wanted. The windows were shuttered against any sunlight that might leak into the house, and Max was safely bricked up in the basement. It was nice to sleep in a bed again.

The sky was still a deep blue with the remnants of twilight. David sat perched on the roof with the corner of the chimney at his back, watching the stars come out, watching the cars that whizzed along the road by the cliffs on their way into the city. The boardwalk was obscured from view by the high rise apartments and office buildings that had gone up one by one, but he knew it was still there, somewhere. It, at least, still held the same pull and appeal as it had when he'd first come with Max to Santa Carla so long ago.

"It's a nice night." His mate settled gracefully beside him, body warm as he leaned into David's and slipped an arm around his waist. David turned, slipping his fingers into dark hair that Michael still wore long and drew Michael's face to his for a yearning kiss. Twenty years of being a Vampire had only made Michael Emerson more beautiful, while tempering much of his hot headed nature. He'd become the partner David had seen in him when they'd first met; David's equal in passion if not yet in power, and though he was young he had quickly earned the respect of the boys.

It took little effort to roll Michael back onto the slope of the roof and cover his form with his, losing himself in the warmth of Michael's willing body, in yearning kisses from his lush, pouty lips. Michael's hands stroked over his hips and up his back, arching up against him with a low, appreciative moan. "I thought we were taking the boys out."

They'd developed a new game, part of the arrangement with the Emersons and those damn vampire hunters. Seduction was what they played at now instead of violence, melting into the crowds of the boardwalk or the clubs and bars downtown. Their pray came from every walk of life and would be stalked, seduced, bitten and ravished, then left with only a slight headache and a hazy memory of pleasure. The boys took to it well, even Laddie. But regardless of where he dined, David would always fall back into these arms at the end of the night, making love before sunrise and sleeping curled together throughout the day.

"We have plenty of time," David replied, kissing warmly along Michael's jaw, sucking at the hollow under his ear. He loved to tease Michael like this, kissing and sucking at his throat, nibbling at the skin. Even when he let the hunter take control he still held back, letting the razor sharp points of his fangs scratch and prick at his skin until Michael was writhing under him, hard and desperate, begging for the blood. Only then would he sink his teeth into his lover's skin, drawing deep draughts of his blood as Michael bit at his wrist and did the same.

Michael's hand slipped down the back of his jeans to clench at his ass, encouraging the rock of David's hips, squirming until one of his thighs was pressed between David's so he could grind up against David's hip. "You really should have told me this about Vampirism in the first place," he gasped, and David chuckled before nipping at the crook of his neck. Michael had repeated the sentiment many times before, but it never failed to send a surge of satisfaction through David.

"Well, I'll make sure to inform you whether or not mind blowing sex is included in anything else I offer you," he replied, and let his baser side take over, teeth distending to razor sharp points. But letting the Hunter loose meant an increase in sensitivity for all his senses, and he smelled the metallic tang of something strange burning at the same time as he heard the strange whizz and crackle.

David's head jerked up, trying to place the source just as Michael said, "What the..." and he turned in time to see what could only be a meteor blazing through the moonlit sky and into the ocean near the base of the lighthouse.

In seconds he was human again, jumping down off the roof and heading to the garage with Michael right behind him. "Boys, grab your wheels! Marco, stop preening, there's adventure to be had!"

Most of the boys had picked up new bikes over the years, but David had a bit of a soft spot for his Triumph, and had kept it as perfectly maintained as the day he'd first stolen it. By the time he'd hopped on and started it the others had made it out of the house, and they fell in behind him as he sped towards the cliffs. "Have to move fast," he shouted to Michael over the wind and the roar of the bikes. Michael would hear him. "Something like this will be crawling with shit like tourists and scientists in no time at all!"

The smell of hot metal and burning was stronger as they pulled up on the point, leaving their bikes at the end of the end of the road and continuing on foot, the boys whooping and hollering and running ahead of him. David smiled, more than fond of all of them despite their unsophisticated natures. Marco was first over the cliff, his hair cut short now in blonde angel curls that made him a hit with rich executive types. Rich wives too, come to think of it. And sometimes depending on his mood, both. Paul followed close behind, suave and lean and never liking being outdone. David descended more sedately down the cliff, trench coat swirling around him as he floated down, and landed on a large outcropping of stone surrounded by water. Michael and Dwayne and Laddie landed with him, their smallest boy bounding off across the rocks towards Marco and the object of their pursuit, which was sending up clouds of steam as the ocean waves hit against its heated surface.

What surprised David was twofold; first that the meteor had fallen much closer than he'd originally thought, crashing magnificently into the rocks at the base of the cliff. The second was that it wasn't a meteor at all, but instead looked suspiciously like a re-entry pod from the old lunar space programs. The hatch had been bent half open, and with each wave that beat against the rocks the craft filled further with water. From the scent, something - someone - was definitely alive inside.

David regarded the situation. "Laddie. Go ahead and get in there. Check things out."

"Right-o!" The boy grinned, then disappeared. Laddie had been a bit of an accident at first. Star's accident, to be precise. David frowned, glad as always that the little bitch had long since parted ways with them. It wasn't ever particularly wise to turn a child, and had Max not been so preoccupied chasing tail, David was sure he would have gotten a good whopping for it. They'd managed to keep Laddie a halfer for a few years by feeding him draughts of their own blood, but when he was twelve he'd killed a drifter that had wandered into their caves during the day. After that, it was an eternity of being a pre-adolescent boy. Thankfully he seemed completely content with it, and a twelve year old's innocence caught as many flies as Marco's angel curls. David just needed to resist the urge to kill most of Laddie's victims after he was done with them.

"David!" Laddie's head appeared in the hatch opening, unconcerned by the wave that hit against his torso. "There's someone here, but he's... I don't think he's human. He's unconscious, I can't move him."

David nodded, stripping off his coat and shirt and tossing them up onto a rock that was out of reach of the waves. Then he climbed down to join him, careful of the still cooling metal. Dwayne had perched on top of the craft, not caring about the heat, and Paul and Marco were trying to look through the murky, half clear substance that seemed to serve as the craft's windows. David grimaced as the ocean water filled his boots, but climbed into the pod. The inside was strangely empty, with no sign of any controls or electrical systems that he would have expected from a space craft. There was a single seat with an unconscious blond man strapped into it, wire rimmed glasses cracked and a trickle of blood on his forehead from where David assumed he'd hit his head in the fall.

He leaned forward to lap at the blood experimentally and frowned. "You're right, he's not human. But I don't think one of us either. Help me get him out."

The buckles were damaged and the straps twisted, but easy enough for clawed fingers to tear through. David hefted the man, pulling him through the water back towards the hatch.

"What about this?" Laddie held up a brown leather bag, soaked through. "It smells strange."

"Bring it too, then," David instructed, backing out of the craft and pulling the man with him, levitating safely away onto the rocks.

Michael was at his side in a second, helping him support the man. "He's not human."

"No. Lets leave the craft and get him out of here, I don't want the human authorities getting their hands on him before we've figured him out. Can you bring my Triumph back with my clothes? I'll fly him back and meet you at the house."

Michael nodded. Laddie still rode with Dwayne more often than not but could easily handle Michael's bike. David shifted the man onto his back, holding his arms securely around his neck, and took to the sky.

By the time the boys got back, David had changed into dry clothes and stripped the unconscious man out of his wet ones, leaving him tied to a kitchen chair in his undershorts. Cleaned of the soot from the crash, the man looked disturbingly similar - no, the same - to David himself. It was all far too weird, so until the man was awake and he could properly assess the situation, tied to the chair is where he would stay.

"David, he kinda looks like you." Paul was the first one through the door, and he circled the chair, staring.

"I'd noticed," David replied dryly, flopping down into a chair at the kitchen table. "Did anyone see you leave?"

Michael shook his head. "There were sirens coming on the road from the city as we drove away, but we were long gone." He leaned against the back of David's chair. "What are we going to do with him?"

"We could keep him," Marco suggested with a grin. "He's pretty. I wish he looked like me, I'd totally have sex with myself."

David ignored him. "Haven't decided yet. Laddie, bring me his bag."

The bag, still sopping wet, was dumped on table unceremoniously before the boy ran off to change. It put David in mind of an old fashioned doctor's bag, which fit with the man's wire frame glasses and the cut of his suit. David opened the bag, sending more sea water cascading onto the kitchen table. Inside were a number of glass vials filled with dark liquid, carefully held in moulded trays to keep them from breaking against each other. David pulled one out and removed the rubber stopper, taking a careful whiff. "It's... blood."

"A bag lunch?" Michael suggested lightly, throwing a couple of dish towels onto the table to mop up the water. David put the stopper back in the vial, shaking the liquid.

"Not just blood, something else as well. Alcohol, I think, like a blood wine. Would keep it from congealing. Very smart."

"Please don't break that." They all turned at the voice, finding the man in the chair awake, watching them calmly through blue eyes. He didn't seem to be all that alarmed at being tied up, and looked them all over slowly. "You're not human."

"Neither are you," Michael pointed out, and the man gave a little nod.

"This is true. May I ask why you've tied me to a chair?"

David slipped the vial back into the bag and stood, moving in front of him and leaning back on the kitchen table. "The same reason why I'd be tied to a chair if I crash landed in your backyard."

"I see. And why am I almost naked?"

"Eye candy," Marco proclaimed, and David shot him a withering look.

"Your clothes were wet. We pulled you out of the ocean."

"Ah. Well. Thank you for your assistance then." He gave a smile, and as David watched the man moved, standing, the ropes around his hands and ankles melting away into nothingness. The cracked lens in his glasses became whole, and the brown suit the man had been wearing reappeared on him, perfectly dry. Laddie slipped back in through the kitchen door, and David yanked the boy behind him protectively, narrowly avoiding collision with the brown leather bag as it flew past his shoulder and into the man's hand.

"What the hell are you?"

The man smiled. "Nothing that you need to be concerned about, I'm not here to harm anyone. Now if you'll forgive me, I really must be going."

He turned for the door, but preternatural speed was still something David had on his side. Moving to block the doorway, he placed a hand on the man's chest. "Look, I don't know who - or what - you are or how the fuck you did that, but this is my city, and any non-human here answers to me. So either you tell me what you're up to or you're not going anywhere."

They were matched in height, and for a moment the man said nothing, blue eyes narrowing. Then he stepped back, giving David a hard smile. "Of course. Perhaps we can talk over tea?"

"Of course," David echoed with a frown, following him back into the room. "Dwayne, take Laddie and the boys outside. Michael, you're with me." The boys grumbled, but did as instructed, and David sat back down at the kitchen table with Michael.

The man sat across from them, and David watched, amazed, as a full tea service grew into existence out of the table. He appeared outwardly calm, but David noticed the way his hands trembled slightly as he poured the tea. "My name is Daniel Poe Schreber," he said simply, handing them each a teacup before adding milk and sugar to his own, stirring rather more than was necessary. "For the past several decades I have been the servant of a group of beings that were similar to what Earth calls Vampires. We called them the Strangers. They had a city full of humans that were farmed for blood, a city of eternal night. I was responsible for altering the memories of the humans, making sure that no person could remember far back enough to be suspicious of their circumstance. And the Strangers gave me their blood to keep me young, and to control me. It also gave me the power to do these things that you have seen me do. They call it Tuning."

"You're a halfer," Michael realized, taking a sip of his own tea. "You've never killed a human, have you?"

Daniel blinked. "Why would I need to? Human blood isn't worth much to me, it can't sustain me for long. But if I may make a guess, I will say that it's not the same for you, is it? You're what the Strangers pretended to be. You are legitimate vampires."

David nodded, sipping his tea black. "I'm David. This is Michael, my mate. The others are our boys. I'm over four hundred years old. What do you intend on surviving on, if you don't feed on humans?"

Daniel gave a nod towards the bag. "That is the only thing I can survive on, I'm afraid. And that's why I am here. A few years ago I gave my blood to a human man, and with it my abilities over reality. And because it was my blood and not theirs, he was able to destroy the Strangers. Now we survive by feeding from each other. We have been trying to bring the city back to earth ever since in the hopes that the people can find their way home."

"Bring it back?" David quirked an eyebrow. "From where?"

"Space," Daniel explained patiently. "The city is currently behind your moon. It is at a sufficient distance that our citizens don't have reason to question the sudden appearance of a very large globe in the sky, while still being close enough to hide from your planet's surveillance systems. We haven't quite decided on a way to bring it down without detection. That's why John came here ten days ago. He was meant to return to me within the week. I'm here to find him."

David nodded slowly, seeing now the fear that hid behind the man's calm propriety. He hesitated, wondering if he should state the obvious, but Michael spoke first. "I don't want to be the pessimist here," he said, watching Daniel carefully, "But if your landing was any indication, Daniel... he might be dead."

The man gave his head a sharp shake. "No. The machine - the device we have in the city that boosts our telepathic power, he's still pulling from it. Or trying to. He's still alive, but for whatever reason he can't Tune. Now, he had enough of my blood with him to last for two weeks with careful rationing, but if it was destroyed in his landing then he wouldn't have the power to get back to me. That's why I need to find him as soon as possible. Before my own supply runs out."

David set down his empty teacup. "Worst case scenario, could you turn another human and then feed from them?"

Daniel glanced down at his own empty cup. "I could," he admitted softly, "But I would prefer not to. John is my..." he paused, and glanced to Michael. "... mate. So I'm sure that you can understand why I really must be going, David. I won't harm your family or anyone in your city. I just need to find my partner."

"I believe you," David said slowly, thinking. It would be easy enough to just let the man go and be done with him, but the idea of a halfer with such bizarre mental powers out on his own set off all the alarm bells. "I suppose you know where he is, then?"

"Not exactly. But he should be within a seven or eight hundred mile radius of this place...."

Michael choked. "Um, do you have any idea exactly how big seven hundred miles is? I mean, Vegas is an eight hour drive and that's only... what, five hundred miles away?"

"I will keep looking until I find him," Daniel stood, his voice hard. "Would you not do the same for David?"

"I'm not suggesting you don't look." David leaned back in his chair and looked up at him. "But if you go out there on your own it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Hell, you're not even from this planet, halfer. What will you do if the humans catch up to you, kill them? Do you even know where you're going to sleep out of the sun? You go out there on your own and you'll only end up dead."

Daniel sank back down into his chair slowly, meeting his gaze helplessly. "What else do you expect me to do?"

David grinned suddenly, letting the question hang in the air for a moment of anticipation. "I expect you to let me help."

"... help," Daniel repeated, staring blankly.

Michael gave him a look that clearly said he thought he was crazy. "Help?"

"Of course." Kicking his chair back onto two legs, David reached behind him to grab the cordless phone from its cradle on the counter. He punched in a bunch of numbers, then waited. "Jack? It's David. Call me back." Then he disconnected and set the phone down on the table. "The thing about being four hundred years old is that if you aren't careful, life can become very boring. It's why I take care of those hooligans. My Michael's still young, but he'll understand in time."

"Hey," Michael complained, and David leaned over to press a warm kiss to his mouth.

"No harm meant, lover mine." He turned back to Daniel. "The man I called is a human with some very... unique connections. He can help us use the human's networks of knowledge against them. If he's where I think he is right now we can get there in about four hours. Plenty of time before dawn and a safe place to sleep. You game?"

Daniel looked from him to Michael's frown. "I... I don't want to cause trouble...."

"It's fine," Michael said, though the frown didn't leave his face. "David knows what will happen to him if he doesn't come home."

"I always come home," David replied with a grin, leaning over to kiss him again. "You know I'll keep in touch. Just keep the boys ready to ride out, I might need you." The phone rang at that, and David picked it up with a purr. "Hello, lover. What are you wearing?" He grinned, chuckling softly under his breath. "Relax, Jack. Hey, I need a hand with something, I'm going to stop in and see you. Yes tonight, and don't say I never give you forewarning, I'm calling, aren't I?" After a moment he nodded. "Yeah, just driving down. Hey, in the meantime you might want to look into a meteor and/or UFO crash that happened in Santa Carla about half an hour ago. See what kind of buzz you can pick up on it. Should have been a similar sighting ten days ago somewhere within about eight hundred miles. We need to know where. Thanks, lover. See you soon." Hanging up, he grinned at the others. "There. Done."

"Do we get to finish what we started earlier?" Michael asked, the frown turning into more of a pout.

David's grin softened. He glanced at the clock, then stood. "Paul!"

The blond appeared in the door far too fast to not have been listening outside. "Yo."

"This is Daniel. Take him into town with the boys, get him some clothes that aren't sixty years out of fashion. Something to travel in, I'm riding out with him in an hour." He grabbed Daniel's sleeve, towing him towards the door. "Go, go. Your bag is fine here. The boys will behave. Paul, make sure they behave."

"Scouts honor," Paul declared with a grin.

"That would be great if you were one." David patted the rather flustered looking Daniel on his shoulder. "Trust us, halfer. You'll fare much better with us than trying to ask the humans for help. They get a bit crazy when it comes to unidentified flying... crashing... space ships. Might try to dissect you."

Daniel paled, eyes widening as David pressed a kiss to his cheek and bundled him out the door. Making a show of dusting off his hands, David turned back to Michael. "Now. Where were we?"

Michael frowned, making no move to stand. "It doesn't matter, David. Just go."

"It matters to me." David caught him by the hands and pulled him up, pressing close. "What's wrong, love mate?"

Michael was unresponsive in his embrace. "You know you're just doing this because it's an excuse for you to go see Jack."

"Only partly," David replied, stroking his hands up Michael's chest and letting his nails tease up the sides of his neck and into his hair. "Why does it matter? You know I won't turn him, and you know I'll come back to you. A mortal's life is short. You have me forever, Michael."

"But what if you change your mind?"

"Have a little more faith in me than that," David chided gently, leaning in to kiss him warmly and feeling him relax a little more against him as he did. The kiss turned hungrier quickly, and David let Michael push him back against the table, his hands tangled in Michael's hair as Michael's hands cupped and clenched his ass. He rocked up against Michael, grinding their hips together with a rush of arousal as he bit lightly at Michael's lower lip, feeling his lover shudder against him in response. Normally after teasing Michael to a frenzy of lust for blood and sex the boy would take charge after feeding, tearing the remainder of David's clothes off and fucking him, hard and unrelenting in payback for the agony of his teasing. They could do that here on the kitchen table, but David had become sensitive to Michael's whims and moods. It wouldn't do tonight.

"Lets go up to bed," he murmured against his mouth, pulling from between Michael and the table and slipping an arm around his waist. An hour was definitely long enough to pamper his lover, to pull his clothes off with gentle touch and cover his beautiful body with kisses as they lay together in the soft expanse of their bed. He seduced Michael like he would a mark, taking blood from him in tiny amounts without even letting the hunter free. He'd had a ring made with a spring loaded blade, like the other boys had, and he used this to cut into Michael's skin, fastening his mouth to each wound to draw blood from him before healing it. He loved how wanton it made Michael, how shivering gasps turned into helpless whimpers as David kissed his way down the boy's torso. He finally let the blade slice deep high on his inner thigh, nicking the artery there to finally let a rush of blood fill his mouth.

"David!" Michael's hands clenched, trembling, in the blond spikes of his hair, body arched tense as he drew from him, completely enthralled in the swoon of the exchange. It would leave him feeling lightheaded, loosing this much blood to David without any in return, and it was exactly what David wanted. He flicked the blade away, stroking a hand hungrily over Michael's hips and thigh as he fed, hearing Michael's pulse pound in his ears. Even after so long, this connection, this passion and intimacy was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. They were the same, he and Michael. And Michael belonged to him.

He pulled back finally, healing the wound and looking up at Michael. His lover watched him, eyes slightly unfocused, the tip of his tongue darting out to lick swollen lips. "David, please...."

God, but it was beautiful to hear him beg. He knew Michael's desires as well as his emotions, and he leaned out to snag the bottle of lube off the bedside table, covering Michael's weeping cock in slow laps of his tongue as he worked slick fingers into him. Michael rocked back onto his fingers, groaning as David took the head of his erection in his mouth, sucking hungrily at the salty sweet arousal there, licking it away.

"Don't tease tonight," Michael gasped, grinding back, almost fucking himself on David's fingers. "Fuck, David, please. Just give it to me. I need you."

"You have me," David replied, low and warm. He slicked more lube over his cock before pushing his lover's strong thighs up to his sides. Watching Michael through darkened eyes, he slowly pushed inside him, sighing at the hot squeeze of his lover's body. He caught Michael's mouth with his own as he did, rocking slowly, angling just so as he buried himself to the hilt to hear Michael's breath catch with the surge of pleasure. He didn't often claim Michael like this, not when it was so much more wild to goad his lover into fucking him hard, spurring him on with dirty words until the boy lost control and came inside him. But this brought its own kind of intensity, pulling Michael more and more undone with each thrust, with each soft murmur of love that David breathed against dark curls.

"Feel so good, Michael. So hot, so perfect. Needed you the moment I saw you, knew you'd complete me like no one else." He trailed open mouthed kisses along Michael's jaw, drawing his tongue up his arched neck and resisting the urge to sink his teeth into it. "My perfect companion," he breathed, and claimed Michael's mouth, stealing his cries of pleasure as he thrust harder into him. He could feel Michael's pleasure grow in the tension of his body, the way his lover arched up against him, helpless for more sensation, in the way that his fingers clenched at David's back. He could hear it in the way he whimpered David's name against his mouth, his helpless gasps as their bodies moved together again and again.

Finally David pulled from his mouth enough to bite down hard on his own tongue, to let his mouth fill with blood. Michael latched on immediately, sucking at his lips, pushing his tongue into David's mouth to pull back the blood David had taken. 

The rush of the exchange hit him hard, melding his passion and desire with Michael's, surging in an almost agonizing need for release. He bucked into him hard and fast, Michael's mouth clamped to his, sucking and biting at his lips and tongue, feeding in a desperate rush of hunger and sensation, their bodies on edge. When pleasure finally broke free it was simultaneous, hearts beating as one. David thrust deep into the body that clenched and shuddered around him, spending himself in hot surges of sensation as Michael came between them, fingers digging into David's shoulders like he'd never let go.

David let Michael suckle at his mouth as they came down, breath not as important as the gift of the blood, and the little shivers of Michael pulling from him only drew out the pleasure of their union. Finally he pulled away, letting his body heal, lapping gently at the smears of his blood on Michael's lips and face. He gave a soft, contented sigh as Michael did the same, not even caring that the fingers that stroked through his hair were disturbing the spikes.

"You won't be gone long?" Michael's voice was soft and wistful, and David answered with a warm kiss.

"I couldn't ever leave you for long, lover mine. I'll be back before you know it."

~~~~


	3. Chapter 3

For three days, Jacob Hood's word was tests, tests and waiting for test results. There was three distinct sets of samples that had been provided that he focused on - blood taken before the incident, blood taken after the incident, and the substance that the mystery subject had apparently been exposed to, which turned out to be some kind of blood wine. He managed to isolate the human genetic material from the fermented fruit and sent it off with Felix for DNA profiling and sequencing, as well as both the other blood samples. The before and after samples, as expected, were a perfect 13 locus match when the profiling results came back. The blood that had been mixed with the wine showed no genetic relation.

Analyzing the samples for foreign substances didn't give him any answers. Tox screens on the samples came back normal, with the only chemicals being the heavy sedative that had already been identified as being given to the subject in the lab. Jacob didn't ask why. The cell counts in the blood were normal, with no sign of disease, and all the medical tests that the doctors had run on him came back as perfectly healthy. Yet from his constant contact with Doctor Jekyll, Jacob knew that the patient's condition continued to slowly deteriorate.

When the DNA sequencing results finally came back late in the evening of the third day, however, was when things really started to become interesting. It appeared that in the samples taken after exposure the subject's DNA had a third more base pairs as it had before. The actual strands were longer, more tightly coiled. Mutated. Jacob stared at the lab results and absently sipped a cup of coffee that was disgustingly lukewarm, trying to take in the implications of the mutation. Flipping to the last set of results gave him the same information - the blood in the alcohol base, though still a completely different individual, again had a third more base pairs that would be expected in a regular human. Could an injection of mutated DNA lead to the same kind of mutation during genome replication in human cell division? And if that were the case, why was the catalyst blood mixed with wine? Direct injection of the substance would be extremely detrimental. But if it were ingested, wouldn't the blood break down before it could affect any mutations in the body?

In the cramped military quarters that had been provided to them, Jacob slept fitfully, awoken repeatedly from nightmares of all the things that could happen to a body with mutated DNA. Would they continue to be human? Would tumours of mutated tissue form throughout the body, like a fast acting cancer? Finally he curled up in one of the hard wooden chairs with a lamp and a copy of the lectures from last year's Nobel Laureates, listening to Felix's quiet snoring from his bunk and trying to calm his mind.

He'd been at work in the lab for an hour the next morning when Felix and Rachel arrived, something that always made Rachel a bit grumpy, but even she couldn't fault the security of the place. Giving a smile to her disapproving frown, he handed Felix the DNA profiling results. "Felix, have you ever used CODIS before?"

"CODIS? Oh, yeah." He broke into a grin. "That thing's pretty cool. They let me play with it a bit when I did my forensics training. You want me to run these?"

"Please," Jacob replied. "Make sure it's completely open to any match in the database - alive, dead, incarcerated, foreign, top secret, I don't care. Bring the results to me as soon as you have them."

"You got it, Dr. H." Felix took the papers and left.

"You're thinking that maybe if we figure out who this guy is we can find out what happened?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Hopefully. Find out more about his background at least. It's proving a bit difficult to solve this puzzle when they're only giving us half the pieces, isn't it?" Jacob drummed his fingers on the surface of the lab table, sipping the remains of the cup of coffee he'd gotten when he came in to work. "Rachel, the subject... I don't think he's entirely human, not anymore. Whatever happened to him, whatever they did to him here seems to have effected some kind of change, some kind of mutation in his very DNA."

Rachel watched him evenly, and Jacob gave her a bit of extra time to figure out what he was talking about. Rachel would ask for an explanation if she needed one. "Mutation. You talking like comic book stuff, Hood? Like the X-Men?"

Jacob chuckled, and finished his coffee. Whether she intended or not, Rachel never failed to lighten a situation somehow, and despite her lack of background in the sciences, she still proved invaluable to bounce things off of. Perhaps a fresh, untrained set of eyes were just what he needed. "The X-Men. Wouldn't that be something? Honestly, I have no idea, Rachel. But we are in Area 51, after all. Who knows what's possible?"

A knock came on the lab door as he was speaking, and Dr. Jekyll let himself in. Jacob had seen a great deal of Henry since his arrival and had decided that he genuinely liked the man. He was quiet and thoughtful, but seemed to have an impressive intellect. He was also one of the few people that Jacob had met who seemed genuinely invested in the well being of the mysterious subject. And while Jacob knew he was keeping information from them, he knew it was by necessity and not choice. The fact that the doctor didn't seem entirely well rather endeared Jacob more to him, though he hadn't yet figured out what the little blue pills that the doctor took every four hours were. "Good morning, Henry."

"Jacob." The ginger doctor looked a little more troubled than usual. "I brought the subject's hourlies for last night, if you wanted to take a look. His blood pressure is still dropping slowly, it's approaching dangerous levels. If we can't do something soon to reverse what's been done to him...."

Jacob nodded, taking the papers from him and reading through them slowly, trying to find something, some tell or inconsistency. "I'm beginning to think that there may not be anything we can do," he said finally, still turning over the pieces of it all in his head, trying to fit them together. "It would be much more helpful if I could actually see the patient."

"I wish I could let you," Henry replied with a sigh, looking slightly miserable.

Jacob echoed the sigh and handed the chart back to the doctor, still thinking. "Henry... do me a favour. Go through his initial symptoms again for me?"

The physician flipped through the chart. "Nausea, vomiting, chills, dizziness and weakness. But there's no substances, no toxins, infections or viruses in his blood, bone marrow, spinal fluid, or anything else that we've tested that would cause this. Physiologically, there's nothing wrong with him."

"Of course there's something wrong with him," Jacob argued, frowning. "Clearly he's going through withdrawal."

Henry frowned. "That was one of our immediate conclusions as well, but the tests didn't support it."

Rachel looked over at him sharply. "Hood, if he was using, there'd be some sign - "

"There is. The second set of samples, the ones that were found with him instead of drawn from him, the ones mixed with wine. They're not samples at all. The blood is the drug." He mulled over the thought for a few moments, picking up one of the vials and turning it over in his hands. Then he gave a soft laugh. "We're not looking into something of extraterrestrial origin at all. He's some kind of vampire."

If possible, Jekyll went even paler. "A vampire. Are you certain?"

Jacob noted he didn't immediately dismiss the notion. Rachel did, however. "Hood, don't be ridiculous. Vampires are a myth."

"Of course they are. But that doesn't mean that the myth wasn't based on some kind of reality. Whatever you want to call it, our subject has some kind of dependence on this blood."

The door opened at that, Felix standing there with a sheath of papers. "Doctor Hood? Oh - sorry, didn't know you were meeting. I got a match on those DNA samples, but, um, I think you might want to take a look at it later. Because it's nothing exciting or anything like that. Completely boring."

Jacob stashed the vial of blood wine in his breast pocket and crossed the room to the door to take the papers from him, starting at the results. "Jack Bauer? The government agent?"

Rachel looked over sharply. "They have Jack Bauer here?"

"No... this is the result on the blood wine." He knew Jack, knew him quite well and had very fond memories of the short time that Jack had acted as his handler. "But why him? Maybe some kind of unforeseen side effect of that bio-agent he was exposed to...."

Still at the door, Felix cleared his throat. "Um, Doctor Hood? There's, um, some soldiers and a very important looking angry person heading down the hall...."

"In a minute," Jacob replied, and flipped the page to the next set of results. Then he froze, staring. "... Jacob Hood."

Rachel's attention jerked to him. "What?"

"Would make sense," Henry muttered, but for the moment all Jacob could do was stare.

"Felix, what on earth did you - "

"It's the right sample, Dr. Hood. I ran it twice, I checked it three times. It just kept coming up with you."

Jacob looked up at Henry sharply. "Why have I been testing my own blood? Did you know about this?"

"In a way," Henry started slowly, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "There is a subject, Doctor Hood...."

"Oh there is, is there? I think I need to see him. I think you need to take me there right now."

"Doctor Hood." Jacob turned to see Felix pushed out of the doorway by a pair of soldiers, who stepped inside and took up station on either side of the door. A man in an officer's uniform strode through and took the test results from Jacob. "Doctor Hood, I'm Colonel Willis, USAF. I'm sorry that we have to meet under these circumstances, but we've been monitoring your system usage. You were clearly asked not to utilize any outside sources in your research."

"Why, because you knew I'd find out that I was running tests on myself?" Jacob's voice was cold and hard with fury. "How did you mutate the second set of samples of my blood? What have you done?!"

"Those details are on a need to know basis, Doctor Hood - "

"And I damn well need to know!" Jacob pulled a deep breath and lowered his voice. "With all due respect, sir, that's my DNA. I have a right to know what the hell is going on here."

The Colonel frowned for a moment, considering, then glanced over at Henry. "He worth bringing in, Jekyll?"

Henry swallowed. "Yessir. He has some plausible theories about the symptoms we've seen, and I believe more that he's holding back. I also think you should have him working on the brain wave monitoring, the schmucks you brought in for it haven't gotten anywhere."

"Very well." Willis gave a sharp nod, then motioned to his soldiers. "Doctor Hood, Doctor Jekyll. You're with me. The others stay here. All secrecy and security agreements that you've signed still stand, you don't discuss any of it with them."

"Hood - " Rachel started, and Jacob held up his hand to stop her.

"Colonel, they're the only research team I have. If you expect me to keep working - "

"Need to know, Hood," the Colonel barked. "Don't push your luck. Come on." He picked up the phone by the lab door and dialled. "This is Willis, authorization alpha-tango-five-sierra-niner. Upgrade Jacob Hood's clearance to level five, we're taking him to see the subject." With that, Jacob found himself bracketed by soldiers and marched down the hall after Willis, with Henry tailing.

The lab they'd been working in was in the second level basement of what looked like, from the surface, a nondescript concrete warehouse. They passed through another secure revolving door with thumb print, vocal and swipe card checks, then into an elevator. Instead of labelled floors the inside of the elevator only had another thumb print reader and a keypad. The Colonel pressed his thumb to the reader, then keyed in another code, and the elevator started its descent. Jacob tried to estimate the depth by the time spent and a guessed speed of movement, but inside the elevator it was impossible to tell.

Stepping out of the elevator, he was taken down halls, given a retinal scan, and then finally taken into a small, darkened lab with a huge window that overlooked a hospital bed in it surrounded by monitors. The multitude of tubes and wires, machines and monitors completely melted away, and Jacob felt the world around him grow still and cold.

The man in the bed was him.

"Jacob!" Henry's hands clamped onto Jacob's shoulders, and he realized he'd been swaying. He gave his head a sharp shake, concentrating on pulling deep breaths.

"I'm sorry, I was just - there was a sense of - disorientation, dysphoria, something along those lines, I'm sure you can understand...." He stared through the window, shaking his head slowly. "He doesn't seem much younger than I am, perhaps thirty five? But there's no way that cloning technology was advanced enough thirty-five years ago to produce something so..." he shook his head again, turning to Henry. "Tell me what you know about this man. Everything."

Doctor Jekyll glanced back at the general, who gave a nod. Then he cleared his throat. "The man - the subject's name is John Murdoch," he said, ignoring the general's frown. "He was found ten days ago when the air force was investigating a meteor that had fallen nearby in the desert. What they found was a ship that looked very much like the old NASA re-entry pods, but void of any electrical systems or visible means of propulsion. He was inside, along with a bag carefully packed with vials containing the - you call it blood wine." He looked out into the hospital room at the man in the bed. "He was unconscious when he was brought here, and heavily sedated as standard procedure, but regardless of the drugs we found that when he awoke he could move and effect matter through what appear to be telekinetic powers. The buzzing sound you hear is designed to interrupt higher level brain waves and keep him from utilizing those abilities."

"Were the samples I was testing his, or mine?"

Henry wet his lips. "The normal samples were yours, Jacob. The altered ones are his.

Jacob folded his arms across his chest, mind working, trying to factor in this new information. "His DNA has approximately one third more base pairs than mine," he said finally. "Like some sort of super human. The DNA in the blood that was with him is the same. I'm going to hazard a guess that it doesn't actually belong to Jack Bauer."

"We're not certain," Henry replied. "You were a bit easier to find than Mr. Bauer was, so we brought you here."

"Hmm." The man's skin was pale and waxy, and as concerned as Jacob had been previously, seeing the man made him even more alarmed now. "I need to talk to him."

"That's not possible." Behind him Colonel Wills' voice was gruff.

"He's been mostly comatose," Henry explained apologetically. "Almost completely unresponsive to stimuli. He's been off all sedation for twenty four hours."

"Mostly comatose? Has anyone actually spoken to him at all? Heaven forbid we actually ask the man if he knows what's wrong with him!"

"I spoke with him." Dr. Jekyll's statement drew a sharp glance from the Colonel. "Not for long, though. He asked for the blood, and obviously for us to let him go. He didn't - "

Before he could finish, a multitude of alarms sounded in the room, and the heart rate monitor flatlined. With a curse, Henry rushed into the room, shouting instructions over his shoulder at the nurses that had been monitoring things remotely. "Grace, bring in the crash cart, and I need an eppi, stat! Erikson, bag him."

Jacob followed slowly behind him and watched from the doorway as bag valve mask was pressed over the man's mouth and nose, the nurse squeezing it to force air into his lungs. He watched as Henry tried to resuscitate him, upping the voltage on the defibrillator, watched as it failed to restart the man's heart. It seemed like everything was slow, too slow, and the horrible high pitched buzzing mixed with the whine of the monitor alarm, Jacob's heart feeling like it was beating twice as fast to make up for the unresponsive one in this man who shared his face.

Paddles in hand, Henry didn't seem any more calm. "Come on, John. Don't do this, don't give up. Come on, dammit!"

Wrapping his arms around his chest, Jacob pressed a fist against his mouth, but as he moved, something shifted in the breast pocket of his lab coat.

The vial.

Jacob pulled it from his pocket. "Henry!"

Blue eyes met his, looked to the vial, and understood. He held up a hand, neatly catching Jacob's toss, and pulled the stopper from the vial.

The effect was immediate. The man in the bed jerked tense, pulling against the straps that bound him. The heartrate monitor jumped from a flatline to wild and irregular as the man gasped for breath. Henry pressed the vial to his lips without hesitation, and the man gulped the bitter dark liquid. The heart rate monitor stabilized, and for a moment Jacob found himself staring at a pair of bright green eyes that were exactly his own, right down to the slight droop that affected his right eyelid during times of stress. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed back against the pillows.

Jacob let out the breath he'd been holding, the room behind him erupting into activity following a flurry of barked orders from Willis. Jacob found himself hurried out of the room and the lab by a pair of soldiers, then abandoned. With much on his mind, Jacob retraced his steps to the lab, shrugging off Rachel and Felix's questions. He didn't bother returning to the tests they'd been doing, and instead spent the day going over as much of his old material on cloning as he could access in Area 51.

~~~~


	4. Chapter 4

It was late, and Jacob had been anticipating another sleepless night when a knock came on the door to the rooms he was sharing with Felix. He buttoned up his shirt again and open the door to find Henry Jekyll standing outside. "Henry? How is he?"

"Stable, better than he's been in days thanks to you." Henry looked more tired and haggard than usual and was still wearing his lab coat. "Nice night, isn't it? Stars are really clear out here in gulf lake. Of course the guys with guns get antsy if you walk too far, but I can take you out for a bit of a walk on the old airstrip if you'd like to take a look."

Jacob stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Sure. Yeah, it's been a long day. Might be nice to unwind." He grabbed his jacket from the hook by the door, giving Felix a smile in answer to his questioning look. "I'll be fine, don't wait up for me." Then he followed the doctor out into the contrast of shadows and spotlights that were the visible part of the Area 51 base. The sun had been gone for a few hours, and little remained of the heat of the day. "So where are we really going?"

"Just where I told you," Henry replied, giving him a long look. They walked in silence for some time along the edge of one of the base's runways, edged with landing lights, before finally turning off towards the sea of darkness that Jacob knew was the dry lake bed. Henry didn't speak again until they were almost completely enveloped in darkness at the edge of dried up salt lake, the pavement under their feet cracked and crumbling. He stopped by a concrete partition at the edge of the airstrip and glanced back at Jacob, his form a darker silhouette against the black of night. "Sorry to drag you out here, Jacob, but... as you may have gathered, the base is monitored highly. I need to talk to you about John. What you said in the lab today about the blood being the drug he's dependent on, I believe it. It's the most reasonable explanation I've heard so far. What you said after that... I believe that too."

"What, Vampirism? I didn't quite mean the actual mythological creature. Unless you think we should start testing his reactions to garlic and holy water."

Henry chuckled softly. "He seems fine with sunlight, too. I'm not saying I believe in mythological creatures, but... when you've been here as long as I have...."

"You start believing in aliens?"

Henry turned back towards him in the darkness. "Jacob, I've seen things. If I told you about them, they'd probably kill me for it. But what I can tell you is that the pills that you see me taking? They're the only thing that keep me from becoming... less than human."

Jacob watched him silently, wishing he could see the man's expression in the darkness. What he could see of his posture was tense, obviously less than comfortable with the revelation. "Can you explain that to me, Henry?"

He heard the man give a long sigh. "This will sound strange to you. It will probably sound impossible. God knows it took them five years to figure me out. So I'll start with the mythology. You've heard of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, yes? That's the myth. What that tale was based on was my great, great grandfather. He killed a lot of people before the police finally shot him. And all that business about the potions, well... I can only assume that he was searching for something that would do the same job as my little blue pills."

"Keep you... human?" The scenario was preposterous. But how many things in the world had once been seen as impossible that could now be explained by science?

"Yes. But my great granddad didn't create Hyde, they got that part wrong. It's a change that begins to manifest in the mid twenties, a genetic mutation that leads to quite notable physiological changes. The growth of hair and nails increases dramatically. The body converts fat to muscle without there seeming to be any physical catalyst for muscle growth and the muscles themselves are significantly more dense. The metabolism increases and results in an incredible hunger, but also super human energy to match the extra strength. And testosterone levels...." he stopped and gave a soft snort. "The body reverts eventually, but the severity of the change and the length of time that it manifests appears to increase over time, and everytime it happens the human becomes weaker, the monster stronger. Perhaps as the tale says, he eventually didn't turn back."

Jacob shook his head slowly. "And this happens to you, too?"

"It does. It skips a generation, we don't know why. So I inherited it and the name from my grandfather, who killed himself at twenty five after the first time he changed. He left my grandmother a widow with a two year old baby boy. I won't be passing on the gene." He was silent for a long moment, looking away into the darkness. "The first time it happened to me I was at med school, one of my professors found me. They sedated me and I was brought here. They eventually determined that it was a neurological trigger more likely to occur in times of extreme stress and developed my medication to block it, but not until after countless experiments to see if they could use me as a weapon. Control me. Or - heaven forbid - pass the mutation onto other men." He took hold of Jacob's arm in the darkness. "Jacob, we have to get John out of here. Now that they know that the blood is the key, who knows what they'll try. We can't let them."

"Why are you telling me this? You work for them, you've been the one conducting these experiments - "

"Do you think I do it by choice?" Henry's voice was rough with tightly contained anger, his fingers tightening on Jacob's bicep. "I leave and I have no access to the medication. I turn into the beast, I become a rapist and a murderer. I'm no more free than I was when they were experimenting on me." He gave a soft, bitter laugh, then stepped over the concrete partition and perched on the other side with his back to the base. "That's why I need your help. Even if I'm free him I can't leave the base with him. But you'll do it, won't you? Whatever it takes?"

Jacob moved to sit beside him. The moon had begun to peek over the mountains of the Nevada desert as they'd been talking, and Jacob could make out his companion a little more clearly, faint light catching on his pale skin. "I will," he replied softly, not even trying to lie. "He has my face, Henry, my form. My very DNA. I can't turn my back on that regardless of the consequences. But I can't see how we could even get him out of that room, let alone off the damn base...."

"Well, I have some thoughts that I'd like to bounce off you, if you don't mind." Henry moved closer so that their shoulders were touching, his body warm against Jacob's in the chill of night. Then he pulled a folded piece of paper from inside his lab coat, unfolding it and flicking a cigarette lighter.

The sudden brightness made Jacob blink, his eyes watering before they adjusted. He tried to focus on the paper. "An EEG reading?"

"Yes. It's a copy of the one from when he flat-lined earlier today, when you were there. See - here there's almost no electrical activity, he was almost completely brain dead. Then a slight jump - I'm assuming the reaction when I opened that vial - followed by - "

"Oh my god." Jacob wondered how the needle had stayed on the page from the incredible spike in activity. "It's like... like every synapse in his brain all fired at once."

"Because of the blood," Henry replied. "It jumps as well when we lower the volume of the noise that's piped into that room...." his voice trailed off, head jerking back to look behind them at the base. "Shit, they've seen us. Follow my lead."

He ran the lighter along the edge of the paper, sending it quickly up in flames, and dropped it down behind the barrier. Then he slipped onto his knees on the dirt, pulling Jacob off the barrier and pressing him back against the slope of the cool concrete, leaning in to catch his mouth with his own.

Kissing against a wall never, ever made anyone invisible despite the popular trope. Jacob knew this, and that kissing against a low concrete barrier was even less likely to make someone invisible. But it didn't stop the thrill of shock that raced through him at the press of the other man's generous mouth to his own. He could count the people he'd been intimate with since Maggie died on one hand, and this was far more of a guilty pleasure than kissing some girl met at an FBI function. Henry's kisses were warm and lush and yearning, one hand slipping up to tangle in Jacob's hair as he licked into his mouth.

Jacob gave a little helpless groan, pulling Henry down against him before he could stop himself. He heard Henry draw a sharp gasp against his mouth, one broad hand moving to fumble with the buttons on Jacob's shirt in the darkness. Of course it would make this more believable the more disheveled they were, Jacob thought as he unbuttoned the man's lab coat and started working on his button down shirt. Truthfully he just wanted to feel the other man's skin, to revel in the erotic decadence of these eager kisses and the warm strength of Henry's body pressed close. He let his fingers smooth over his chest, imagining that the fine smattering of hairs under his fingertips to be a lighter ginger than the man's auburn hair, imagining that the skin itself must be sprinkled with freckles that he could lick and kiss.

Henry pressed kisses along his jaw, warm and hungry and so much more than just a pretense, and one hand tugged his shirt open, stroked warmly over his chest. Jacob let his head fall back, whimpering at the tease of teeth on his earlobe, and part of him wanted very much for whatever Henry had seen to be a false alarm so that they could just stay here and see where this lead to.

Too soon, the bright flare of headlights caught them, accompanied by the crunch of tires on broken concrete. "On your feet, hands in the air!"

They scrambled to their feet, panting, and Jacob caught sight of Henry twisting one foot slightly in the dirt, no doubt grinding away the ashes of the burnt paper. One soldier hopped out of the jeep and walked over, his flashlight blinding in their faces. "You I recognize," he said to Henry, reaching out to grab the ID tag clipped to the front of Jacob's coat. "Doctor Jacob Hood?"

"Here on short term contract," Jacob replied, blinking in the light and trying to see past it. "I'm with the FBI."

"And just what is your business out here? Jekyll, you know this airstrip is out of bounds for non-military personel. And short term contractors are not permitted to wander the base.

"Stargazing," Henry offered, just as Jacob decided to take a chance. He grinned widely at the soldier as he buttoned up his jacket.

"Don't ask, don't tell. Isn't that how you do things in the military?" When the beam of the flashlight wavered and lowered, Jacob knew he'd hit his mark. He pushed it a little farther. "I wasn't aware that this area was off limits, but if you'd be so kind as to take us back to Doctor Jekyll's living quarters then we can get back to... our work meeting and be out of your hair."

The soldier glanced back at the driver of the jeep, who nodded, and they were both bundled into the back. Henry looked a little dazed, buttoning his lab coat back up over his undone shirt and as they drove Jacob moved his hand along the back seat of the jeep so his fingers could brush the side of the other man's leg. When the jeep stopped outside one of the nondescript doors in a long line of army barracks, Jacob followed Henry out of the jeep, slipping inside with him as the jeep pulled away.

They stood in the small front room, normal living room furniture replaced by a desk covered with notes and a large bookshelf. A lamp had been left on in the corner, the light spilling golden onto Henry's features when they'd been obscured by darkness such a short time ago. The doctor seemed almost ashamed and refused to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry for pulling that on you. You should be able to slip out back to your rooms in a few minutes."

Jacob watched him carefully as he spoke, then reached out to touch the man's arm. "Or I could just stay."

Henry stiffened, turning to look at him slowly, the tip of his tongue darting out to moisten his lips. "Do you really want to?" He closed his eyes as Jacob's fingers slipped up into his hair, bringing their lips together in a soft kiss.

"That felt very real to me," Jacob murmured, stroking his fingers over auburn locks again and again. "Didn't it? I'd like to continue." He nuzzled slowly along Henry's jaw, the roughness of a hint of stubble under his lips. "I can't imagine you get much company stuck out here,"

The other man shuddered, fingers clenching at Jacob's hips. "Don't do this because you feel sorry for me. I don't need your sympathy."

Jacob drew back, eyebrows raising slightly as he regarded him. "For your condition? No. I can't even begin to understand that. But I do know loneliness, Henry. Very well." He let his arms drape around Henry's shoulders, letting his body press against the other, voice low. "I don't often connect with people on a personal level, and far less often on an intimate one. It's... been a while. Henry, I want to stay with you."

Henry gave a shuddering exhalation against his lips, then answered wordlessly, pressing Jacob back against the closed door to kiss him with a soft moan, hands stroking restlessly over his sides. It was warm here, but no less vivid than the heat of his kisses had been in the chill of night. Jacob fumbled again for the buttons of his lab coat and smoothed his hands over the bare skin he craved so much, which was just as he'd imagined. Henry himself was stronger than he'd thought, though, thin frame covered by sinuous muscle that felt delicious under his fingers. He pushed his shirt and lab coat off his shoulders, arching closer to him and returning the hunger in Henry's kisses without hesitation, tasting warmth and coffee as his tongue moved against the other man's. From the skill of his kisses - the perfect force and pressure stealing Jacob's breath completely - he had no doubt that regardless of how isolated the man was now, this wasn't at all new to him. The thought of going to bed with him was becoming more appealing by the minute.

Henry tugged his shirt out of his pants, smoothing it off his shoulders with his jacket, and his nimble doctor's fingers felt deliciously strong. Then he was kissing Jacob's jaw again, sucking hungrily at his throat, the crook of his neck. "You're ridiculously handsome, you know," he murmured, fingers just brushing against Jacob's quickly growing erection as he rubbed up and down his thighs. "I'd almost given up on you noticing how much I was attracted to you."

"I didn't," Jacob replied with a soft laugh, drawing a sharp hiss at the tease of teeth on his collarbone. He tried to arch closer to him, hips rocking up into the palm that cupped him through his pants. "I'm afraid I'm rather clueless when it comes to that."

Henry pulled back, blue eyes dark and appreciative, and full lips turned up into an irresistible smirk. "Perhaps it's a good thing that I took a more direct route, then. Even if I wasn't trying to seduce you back there."

With a soft groan, Jacob covered that smirk with his own mouth, sucking hungrily at full lips. "But you wanted to?"

"Oh god, yes." Henry's hands slipped to catch his hips, pulling Jacob firmly against him so that Jacob could feel the other man's arousal. He let his hips grind up against Henry, moaning at the shudder of pleasure it sent through him.

"Bed?"

Henry's quarters were obviously single occupancy, and the bed in the small back room was a narrow single. But it was more than wide enough to push Henry down onto, covering his chest in kisses and slow laps, kissing over the craved freckles before sucking a small, hard nipple into his mouth. He made short work of Henry's belt and the closure on his slacks, tugging them down with his undershorts to wrap his fingers around the shaft of his lover's erection. Henry arched up into his touch with a low groan, one hand pushing between them to fumble with Jacob's belt. He kicked off the remains of his own clothes, then moved to flip Jacob onto his back, somehow maneuvering easily on the narrow mattress. He kissed over Jacob's chest as if to devour every inch of him with his mouth, hands working to help Jacob off with his pants and undershorts. Then he licked a wide stripe down his stomach, and Jacob's breath caught as he watched his lover's beautiful full lips part over the head of his cock.

This, too, Henry must be familiar with, experienced in, his tongue teasing the sensitive head of his cock with little flicks before his lips slid halfway down the shaft, eyes half closed in pleasure. He arched up into the sensation before he could stop himself, biting his bottom lip on a groan at the slick heat of Henry's mouth, the bob of his head as he sucked and caressed his cock. One hand roamed, stroking Jacob's thighs, cupping his balls and massaging gently. Then it finally curled around the base of his cock, stroking him in time with his mouth, pleasure building quickly in pulses that made Jacob gasp with each breath.

"Henry?!"

His lover took him deeper in his mouth, answering his query with a hum. "Mmmm?"

"Please tell me you have something...."

Henry placed a soft kiss to the head of his cock and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, handsome. You were right about me not having much company out here. But I'm more than happy to continue with this...."

Jacob drew a shivering breath as his lover ran his tongue up the underside of his erection. "Lube, then? I'm clean. I mean... if you want to make love to me."

For a brief moment blue eyes looked up at him, pupils large in the semi-darkness of the room. Then Henry had covered his body with his, pulling him securely close and kissing him warmly again and again. "Of course I want to. But are you sure about this, beautiful?"

Jacob managed a nod, gasping as Henry's hand curled around his cock again, stroking him slowly. "I want you. Live with no regrets. Please, I - I need to feel that."

A small bottle of lube was produced, and Henry fit himself against Jacob's side, stealing his breath with long, deep kisses as he carefully worked two slick fingers inside him. It was like being in an ocean of sensation, entirely surrounded and helpless to it, being pulled into waves of arousal without being able to control anything. Henry's kisses were deep and slow, exploring every inch of his lips, his mouth, body warm and solid against Jacob's. His fingers pumped slowly in and out of his body, massaging him, turning the burn of penetration to intoxicating stimulation. Each press, each careful twist of his fingers pulled a little helpless moan from Jacob, his normally smooth tenor voice husky and trembling with desire.

"Please," he breathed, gasping as another finger pressed carefully into him, stretching him. "Oh god, Henry. I need you, please...."

"I'm right here," his lover murmured, kissing him deeply again, then dropping soft kisses to his lips as he eased his fingers from him. He shifted to sit near the end of the bed between Jacob's spread thighs, drizzling more lube on his palm and stroking it over his cock. When Jacob moved closer to straddle his lap, Henry pulled him into another yearning kiss. His fingers closed around Jacob's cock as well as his own, stroking him with strong, slick fingers as his other arm tightened around Jacob's waist securely, keeping him close. "So beautiful," he breathed, breath hitching at the way it made Jacob buck up into his fingers. "Thank you for staying. No matter happens, thank you for staying. You're so damn beautiful...."

"So are you," Jacob replied softly, sucking at his bottom lip and rocking up against Henry, against Henry's cock. He tightened one arm around Henry's shoulders, pushing his hand away from between them and wrapping his fingers around the base of Henry's erection to hold him in place as he slowly rocked onto him. It had been a while since he'd done this, since Jack, and the sensation was more than intense as he tried to relax, to make his body yield as he slowly pressed deeper. Henry's hands clenched on his hips, a soft curse escaping his lips as Jacob rocked against him ever so slightly.

"God, Jacob...." His hands stroked over Jacob's back and sides, restlessly, as if not quite sure where to touch. "God, you feel so - this is so - "

"Yes," Jacob managed to reply, rocking a little harder on him. "So good. God, you feel good." He shifted a little, groaning as the head of Henry's cock rubbed up against the sensitive nub deep inside him. Henry's arms tightened around him, rocking up into him with a low moan. His kisses were warm and trembling and almost reverent as they continued to rock together slowly, reveling in the intimacy and the slow build of pleasure. Henry seemed almost in awe of it all, murmuring his name with voice trembling as he buried his face in his hair.

Finally he moved to lay Jacob back amidst the cool sheets, driving deep into him until Jacob was crying out in pleasure with each thrust, his body tense and shuddering with the hot bursts of sensation. He wrapped his arms up around Henry's neck, fingers digging into sweat streaked skin. "Henry. Oh god, Henry, I - "

"Yes," Henry's voice was husky and almost desperate as he fought to keep his thrusts measured. "Please. God, Jacob!"

A few more hard thrusts pulled him to craved release, a cry catching in his throat as his body clenched and shuddered with the bliss of orgasm. Henry's answering cry seemed almost pained, rocking deep inside him as he came, the heat between them and inside him hot and bright and overwhelmingly good. Jacob held to him tightly as pleasure burst white behind his eyes, not wanting the moment or the intimacy to end.

As they both slowly calmed he tilted his head to accept Henry's soft kisses, finally releasing his shoulders and stroking one hand slowly through auburn hair. "Thank you," he murmured, returning the little wondering smile that Henry gave him. "That was just what I needed."

"Thank you," Henry echoed softly, making no move to pull away. He pressed a gentle kiss to Jacob's forehead. "The air force is kind of stingy when it comes to beds in single occupancy quarters, but... if you don't mind sleeping really close, I'd be happy if you would stay with me."

"That sounds perfect," Jacob replied with a smile. Later, curled up together with his head pillowed on Henry's shoulder, he drifted off into the most restful sleep he'd had in a very long time.

~~~~


	5. Chapter 5

By the time they reached LA, Daniel no longer had a stranglehold around David's waist. He sat quietly on the back of the bike for most of the ride, keeping his own council, the precious bag of vials tightly strapped to the back of the bike.

"Technology is certainly much more advanced here," he said in David's ear as they drove into the city limits. It seemed like a rather troubled statement, and David glanced back over his shoulder.

"That's a bad thing?"

"Perhaps. Tell me, how would your world react if a city full of people was suddenly discovered somewhere?"

David chuckled. "Oh man, that would be a complete shit show. They'd probably assume it was the result of some secret military project by the US. And the US would probably assume they were all commies. Or... terrorists or whoever the hell the uniting enemy is at the moment. If you really want to do it, it'll take a lot of work. Jack might be able to give you better thoughts on it than me."

Daniel was silent for a long moment. "You really think your world's governments would see them as a threat? Even if they're just civilians?"

"Civilians appearing out of nowhere are never civilians. If you put them down in America, the city would probably get quarantined for a couple of years, at least until the government can run a bunch of tests to make sure it's not some kind of invading force or carrying any kind of deadly diseases. And that's if they don't consider the city any kind of threat. Be very glad I got to you before they did, they'd consider you a hell of a lab rat."

David could just hear the soft sigh over the wind whipping past them. "Then they have John. They're keeping him from Tuning somehow. It's the only explanation."

"Probably." David had reached this conclusion hours ago, but he kept it to himself. "Daniel, trust me. If anyone can help us, it's Jack."

They rode into a run down neighbourhood near downtown LA with a few hours until dawn. David took the bike up a dirt path next to a small, nondescript bungalo and cut the engine, waiting for Daniel to slip off the back before dismounting himself. He left to rap a rhythm on the door while Daniel unstrapped his bag from the bike.

"Who is it?" The voice from the other side of the door was gruff and familiar.

"It's me, who else? Let us in, Jack."

"Us? You didn't say you were bringing someone." The door opened a crack, a chain lock holding it in place, and David could just see the face of the man that stood behind the barrel of the pistol pointed at him. Jack looked him over carefully, then froze as Daniel joined him. "What the hell is this, David?"

Daniel kept himself carefully still, glancing to David. "Is it common to find perfect doppelgangers in your world, David?"

"No," David replied with a shrug. "I always figured Jack and I were some kind of freak chance, like a set of features being recycled after four hundred years. I can't explain you. Jack, I'm stashing my bike in your shed, let Daniel in."

With a frown, the pistol disappeared, the door closing again long enough to be unlocked and opened. David slipped back to the bike, and Daniel was left staring at a slightly older and very world-weary version of himself. He glanced the man over slowly, then extended a hand. "Doctor Daniel Schreber."

After a moment, Jack took the offered hand for a firm shake. "Jack Bauer. Who are you really? And where the hell did David dig you up?"

Daniel laughed softly. "I am... very similar to what he is. But I have not been living on earth for quite some time."

Jack's eyebrows rose slightly, and he stepped back from the door as David joined them again. "Come in." He secured the door behind them, his movements still careful and wary, and nodded to the bag in Daniel's hand. "I need to search that."

David rolled his eyes. "It's fine, Jack. He's not packing."

"Packing?" Daniel looked confused, and David chuckled.

"He's a bit behind the times, too. Jack, I wouldn't put you in danger, you know that."

Jack finally gave a sharp nod, though he didn't look particularly pleased. "You'll have to forgive me if I seem hesitant to accept your story. But since David is one of the few people I still trust in the world - heaven knows why - I'll hear you out."

"Because I'm not human," David replied with a smirk, pressing close to Jack and slipping his hands up into the man's short-cropped hair as he kissed him with more than a little passion. "Mmmm. Missed you, lover."

"You just caught me," Jack admitted, hands resting familiarly on the vampire's hips. "We've been here too long, have to skip the country again. Tony's already gone on ahead, I just had to wrap things up with Kim."

"Ooh, I get you all to myself? I have fabulous timing." David was still grinning as he pulled back. "You find out anything about about the meteor in Santa Carla?"

"There's a lot of buzz on it," Jack admitted. "And I'm assuming you know it wasn't a meteor. Seems like the tourists got there before the government could close it off, there's cell phone pictures of the craft all over the internet."

"It's his," David replied, thumbing to Daniel. "He's here looking for his hubby, crash landed somewhere around here about ten days ago. Find anything about that?"

"Not as much," Jack said slowly, watching Daniel carefully. "Come downstairs, let me show you."

From the glimpse Daniel had of the upstairs level of the house, it seemed quite uninhabited. The basement was unfinished and held more supplies than furnishings, a worn looking couch in the corner and a long table against the wall with two laptops and various unidentifiable electronic equipment strewn on it. Jack pulled a battered folding chair up to one and unlocked it.

"Here's the crash from tonight," he said, showing a dark, grainy photo that none the less clearly displayed the entry pod at the base of the cliffs. "I'm sure the government will pass it off as some kind of space debris, you did them a favor by emulating their own craft. They'll know it isn't theirs, though. As for ten days ago...." The page he switched to had a photo of a streak of light in the dark sky. "Hardly any buzz at all, an amateur astronomer caught this shot over the Nevada desert." He looked up at Daniel. "You're really not from earth?"

"Originally yes," Daniel replied. "But not for many years. My city was a farm for a group of alien beings that I served. My lover and I destroyed them a few years ago."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Just the two of you?"

"We can alter reality with our minds," Daniel replied simply. At Jack's raised eyebrow, he calmly Tuned himself a cup of tea and took a sip. "Can I make you tea or coffee?"

"No... no thank you." He stared at the cup of tea as he let out a long breath, then glanced to David. "Government's going to have a hayday with this."

"Oh yeah." David grinned and perched on the edge of the desk. "So, Nevada. Too bad it's the desert and not Las Vegas. Isn't the Nevada desert where they have that paranoid air force base? The one from all those alien conspiracy theories?"

"Gulf Lake? Well, that would be the obvious place. And you intend to break him out?"

"That's the plan. You in?"

Jack regarded them both for a moment, then back to the picture on the screen. "I really don't like this," he said finally with a frown. "But I owe David for last summer."

"You do," David replied with a smirk. "Russian government goons taste fucking disgusting."

Jack picked up a headset without comment and plugged it into the computer, pulling up a program and typing in a bunch of commands. "Hey, it's me. You secure? Okay, call me back." He looked up at David. "If that's where he is, it's not going to be easy. And I'm putting you both in flack jackets." He glared at David before he could reply. "I don't care, if you get hit it still takes you out of play while you fix yourself. I can't afford that." He glanced to Daniel. "I don't suppose you can do more than make beverages? Like deflect bullets?"

"Or make them cease to exist?" Daniel set the fine china cup and saucer down on the desk and tuned himself a simple wooden chair. "Yes, I don't see any problem with that. I could create an entire city out of the earth, theoretically. I can also put people to sleep, which might be a little easier than deflecting unknown quantities of gunfire. Does that help?"

"To sleep?" Jack quirked an eyebrow.

"Unconscious, until I release them or until I'm far enough away. It's easier if the moon is overhead, I can still tap the machines in our city that boost my powers. There are limitations, of course... I have enough blood with me to fuel likely one major attack before I need to feed."

"So I should slot time to find lunch into any op we plan?"

Daniel shook his head. "The only one I can feed from is the one I need to rescue. I will be fine until he's returned." He leaned back in the chair, regarding him. "Jack, I am well aware that when it comes to your world you are the expert, and not I. Tell me what you'd like me to do and I'll do it."

Jack nodded slowly. "I'll keep that in mind." An alert popped up on the computer screen at that, and Jack put back on the head set, typing in a few commands. "Chloe? Thanks for calling. I don't want to bring you into anything, I just need some info." He paused for a moment, giving a sharp nod. "I'm aware of that, and I'll stay off the radar. I just need the schematics for the air force base at Gulf Lake."

The faint voice on the other end of the phone grew louder and rather more shrill, but Jack only smiled fondly, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way that made him look suddenly warm and inviting. "I know, but you're just going to have to trust me. If you can get me any information on the security systems as well that'll be a real help." He paused for a moment, still smiling. "It's an extraction, I have a debt to repay, and I promise we'll do our best to be in and out with a zero body count. Yes. Trust me. All right, I'll wait for the data. Thanks, Chloe. It's good to hear your voice." Jack hit a button on the computer to close the program, then leaned back in the chair, dropping the headset down around his neck. Then he glanced over to David. "We're completely square after this, just so you know."

David smiled, wide and charming. "I'll be forever in your debt, Jack. Anything you need, just tell me where to find you. You headed to Europe?"

"Somewhere that's not here, and that's all you need to know. The fewer people that know the better," Jack replied with a little bemused smile. "Vampires too. Don't really want to have to force you to pick off any more Russian operatives, since you seem so adverse to the taste."

Daniel watched the exchange quietly, then cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Mr. Bauer... am I correct in assuming that you are currently a fugitive?"

"In three countries," David replied with a little proud grin, and Jack snorted.

"Don't worry about it. Chloe keeps an eye on the buzz for me, they think I'm still somewhere in Brazil. It won't be an issue to get you in and out of Gulf Lake."

"I don't doubt that," Daniel replied, then continued slowly. "Tell me, Mr. Bauer... would it be of value to you if you could completely change your fingerprints?"

"Jack, please," Jack replied, regarding him. "You can do that?"

"Certainly. Matter is matter. It just requires a bit more of a... practiced hand, shall we say." He smiled. "When we recover John, I will have the ability to give you anything you like as a token of my gratitude. I hope you will accept it."

"I'll take you up on that offer," Jack replied after a short consideration, giving a nod. "Thank you."

They spoke for some time, going over the schematics of the base, making and throwing out plans before deciding on a couple of plausible plans of action. Through this David was mostly quiet, listening, at some point moving from his perch on the table to claim the other folding chair and folding his arms to rest on Jack's shoulder. The other man seemed to accept the affection quietly, strangely comfortable around the young - no, just young looking, Daniel reminded himself - vampire, working without hinderance, placing phone calls and going over the base schematics. He disappeared upstairs to retrieve what proved to be a pair of night vision goggles, but David met him at the bottom of the stairs before he could return to the laptop, stroking his hands familiarly over the other man's shoulders.

"Jack... it's an hour to dawn."

Jack glanced to a battered clock on the wall, then to the small basement window, which was already boarded up. "It should be safe for you both to stay here, is that alright?"

"Yes," David replied, "But that's not what I meant. You should take a break, my warrior."

Daniel watched the way Jack's eyes fluttered closed almost submissively as David leaned close, drawing his tongue up Jack's throat. The man's protest was weak. "David, I need to keep working...."

"We have time," David murmured, a hand stroking over his chest, and he kissed Jack's throat softly, nipping teasingly at his skin. "Please... I've missed you. I need you. You know I'll be more useful after I've fed...."

"And I also know you're just angling to get laid...." Jack's voice had an edge to it, like his efforts to be stern were quickly being overridden by hunger. Daniel turned away at Jack's sharp hiss, feeling very much like he was intruding on a private moment. He turned his attention back to the article on the laptop in front of him, but it couldn't block out David's low, muffled groan, the sound of two bodies pressing close, hands sliding over clothes, Jack's gasping breath. It didn't surprise Daniel that feeding was as intimate for David as it was for him, only that the other vampire seemed so free in his choice of bed partners and so open about doing such things in front of him.

He felt his ears burn, knowing well the effect this would have on Jack, on David himself, and tried to focus on the computer screen in front of him. He heard Jack murmur David's name, low and warning, then David's reply, sounding perfectly in control.

"We'll be back, Danny. Make yourself at home."

"Daniel," he corrected with a little frown, but David had already pulled Jack into the other room and locked the door behind him. He sighed, retrieving his bag from where it had been carefully tucked under the table with a thought. Pulling the stopper from one of the vials, he held the rich liquid in his mouth for a moment before swallowing it down, letting the warmth and energy and the feel of John shiver through him and trying very hard not to wonder if he'd ever see his lover again.  
~~~~


	6. Chapter 6

Henry awoke a little before dawn when the alarm on his wrist watch sounded, his mind quickly attributing the feeling of being slightly overheated to the nicely warm and deliciously nude body curled up against his own. He tightened his arm around Jacob as he smiled to himself, stretching out the cramp in his shoulder from having been slept on all night.

Jacob made a soft, appreciative noise as he stirred, nestling his face into Henry's neck and stroking a hand down his side. "Mmmm. Morning already?"

"Almost." Henry pressed his lips to his hair, taking in the scent of his form - warmth and sex and a warm touch of fragrance that he thought suited the man in his arms very much. "Go back to sleep if you like, we don't have to go anywhere for another hour or so."

"Mmm?" the little sleepy noise sounded rather more interested, and Jacob stretched against him, turning his face up to catch his mouth in a warm kiss. His fingers smoothed down to brush the base of his partial erection teasingly, his tongue flicking against Henry's bottom lip. "Hold this thought. I'll be right back."

Propping himself up one elbow, Henry smiled and made no attempt to hide his admiration of Jacob's backside as he disappeared into his bathroom, his skin pale in the darkness of his room. He'd been pleased to find that Jacob looked even better without his clothes than with, and he couldn't stop his mind from replaying the events of the evening in vivid detail. He tore his attention back long enough to lean over and grab the pill bottle from the bedside table and take one dry. He'd skipped his two am alarm in favor of not waking a very cuddly Jacob, but he couldn't afford to miss more than that. He'd need complete control of himself if they were really going to go up against this place.

He watched Jacob emerge from the bathroom, pausing at the door for a moment but smiling when Henry met his gaze. Regardless of his claim of being completely clueless when it came to noticing others affections, Jacob had proved to be a more than adequate lover, warm and passionate and considerate. Henry held up the edge of the blanket with a smile. "You look cold. Come back to bed."

"Who am I to turn down a such a kind offer to warm me up?" Jacob seemed much more awake, his tone pleased and playful. He curled around Henry's body without hesitation, his skin a little cold under Henry's hands. Despite his playful words, however, Jacob seemed strangely subdued, and was silent as he relaxed into him on the narrow mattress. Nestling his face into Henry's hair, he gave a soft sigh finally. "I really wish I'd met you under different circumstances," he said quietly.

"I know." Henry let his fingers trail down Jacob's spine and echoed his sigh. "If this were anywhere else...."

"Couldn't it be?" Jacob's voice was deceptively light, but his fingers pressed a little harder against Henry's back.

Henry closed his eyes for a moment, then drew back to look at him, the hint of morning light just catching the green in Jacob's eyes. "Jacob, being what I am... I can't leave. Not ever."

"No... I suppose you can't." Something behind his eyes spoke differently though, an intelligence veiled by sadness, reminding Henry of what had drawn him to the man in the first place. He'd known his name long before Jacob was brought here, been familiar with his work and his publications, so he'd been well aware of the man's brilliance for some time. He hadn't expected him to be so striking, however, nor so personable. Henry had worked with plenty of geniuses before - actual as well as self proclaimed - and he found that the majority of them were so caught up in their own minds that they had little care for those around them outside of business and science. But Jacob approached people with the same attention as he did anything else - learning, discovering, drawing conclusions, then politely setting aside those who didn't engage him to focus his his attention on those who did. Being deemed engaging, worthwhile, pleasing; that had surprised Henry, and honored him more than a little. But being classed as lover - perhaps even friend? - was far beyond anything he could have ever hoped for.

Jacob still watched him, fingers stroking slow circles on his back. "You must go through those little blue pills fairly quickly," he said, and though his voice was still light and casual, Henry could see his mind moving miles faster than his words. "I suppose they make them here on the base?"

"Yes. A few months worth at a time, it's not exactly a drug you can get in a regular pharmacy." He kept his own voice as casual as Jacob's while trying to anticipate his questions, to follow where his mind went. "Not sure what's in them, I'm not really privy to that kind of information. But I have a bottle on me at all times... more in my office, and here at home. Make sure I can find them wherever I am." He chuckled softly and shook his head. "I always remember my mother's father having a huge pillbox full of vitamins that he took at every meal... sometimes I feel like an old man."

"Not old at all," Jacob replied, the teasing smile suddenly back in place. He arched closer, body once again warm and more than a little tantalizing as he took Henry's mouth with his own, a soft brush of the lips that quickly became longer, warmer. Familiar. "Definitely not old if last night was any indication."

Henry chuckled softly against his mouth, drinking in his kisses and making a token attempt at responsibility. "Will your handlers be worried about you....?"

"It's still early," Jacob murmured. He pressed a thigh between Henry's as he arched closer, one hand slipping up into his hair, stroking his fingers through his hair. His hips pressed to Henry's, making the churn of arousal in the pit of his stomach quickly grow hot. "We still have time before work, don't we?"

The invitation was unmistakable, and not one Henry was going to turn down. He opened his mouth to Jacob's kisses and let his tongue lathe against his, drinking in his warmth, the shivers of pleasure that even the mere act of kissing sent through him. Jacob was one of the most responsive lovers he'd had, shivering under his touch as Henry's hands traced the curves of his shoulders, smoothing down his back to press against the slight curve just above the man's perfectly shaped ass. His smooth tenor voice sounded little moans of pleasure into Henry's mouth as they rocked together, his erection quickly growing hard against Henry's own as his hands smoothed over the warmth of Henry's skin, taking in the lines of his body and leaving heat in their wake.

Henry let himself kiss hungrily along his jaw, loving the stubble roughness of Jacob's skin and the strength of his body against his own. He caught Jacob's earlobe with his lips, sucking at it, dragging his teeth along the shell of his ear, even more turned on by the taste of his skin and the way Jacob's breath quickened and hitched.

"Can you do something for me, beautiful?" he murmured, kissing and sucking at the warmth of Jacob's throat, fingers slipping down to knead at his ass.

"Anything," came the throaty reply, Jacob's head falling back to give him better access.

For a moment Henry reveled in the feel of Jacob's body against his, the slow rock of their hips, the faster build of desire. "Want you inside me."

Jacob gave a soft moan, one hand tangling in his hair as he arched against him. "You sure, handsome?"

"Mmm. Live without regrets and all that. Right?" He nuzzled back up his throat to press a warm kiss to Jacob's lips before leaning over to claim the small bottle of lube from the bedside table. He pressed it into Jacob's hand, nuzzling his ear to breathe, "wish I could go with you."

"Me too," came the soft reply, and Jacob shifted to press him onto his back.

With as infrequently as he'd had opportunity to meet anyone here on the base, it had been even longer since he'd trusted someone to do this. Jacob didn't question him as he kissed hungrily over Henry's chest, teasing his nipples with his lips and teeth and making him squirm under the onslaught of pleasure. His fingers were deft and careful as he worked him open, massaging away the burn of penetration, kissing and licking long swipes up firm thighs, over his stomach, finally teasing his balls with little flicks of his tongue as he scissored two fingers inside him.

"Could do this all day," Jacob murmured, licking a wide stripe up the underside of his cock. Henry watched his lips part over the head of his cock, sucking just on the tip, teasing him, lapping up the slick of his arousal. He jerked tense and gasped as Jacob's fingers rubbed inside him just right, and his lover gave a low, appreciative moan in reply, his lips sliding down his shaft before pulling back to tease him again with the tip of his tongue. "Love how passionate you are, love how hard you make me, love how it felt to have you inside me here, then again in the shower...."

"Jacob." Henry's hands clenched in the other man's dark curls, gasping for breath as a third finger breached him carefully. "God, please...!" He couldn't say anything else in reply to Jacob's words - it was too much, too vivid a reminder that this would be all of Jacob that he'd ever have. Even if they weren't plotting to liberate John Murdoch, there would be no way that Jacob could stay at the base past the end of his assignment. But god if he didn't want more, want the time to explore Jacob's company as much as he'd explored the man's beautiful body.

He curled on his side with Jacob pressed behind him, lips covering his neck and shoulder in soft kisses and licks as he eased slowly inside him. The ache of submitting to him was beautiful, pleasure and pain that shivered through him as he arched back against him, wanting as much of Jacob as possible. This was what he really needed, craved; being possessed so completely, to have every inch of him claimed by Jacob before they had to part. To feel him on his skin and inside him afterwards. "More," he gasped, trying to writhe back against him, feeling Jacob's moan of pleasure as much as he heard it, low and throaty against his skin.

"Henry." Jacob's voice was thick with emotion, with pleasure, and he rocked slowly deeper, one arm tight around Henry's waist to hold him close. He could feel every inch of his lover's cock as he buried himself to the hilt, thick and hot and oh god, so hard. "Henry," he said again, a little helplessly, thrusts slow and deep, lips trembling against his shoulder. His free hand smoothed restlessly over his stomach and thighs, finally curling around his cock, jerking him in even strokes as he rocked a little harder into him, gasping against his skin.

"God, yes - !" It was so easy to lose himself to the pleasure he'd wanted so badly, eyes closed tight to focus on the sensation, the sound of Jacob's voice, the feel of him. He rocked with him as much as he could, not holding back the choked groans of pleasure as their bodies came together just right. It was more than a little intoxicating to be the focus of his passion, to feel his pleasure as he bucked up inside him, and Henry moaned his name just to make Jacob gasp and move harder. Jacob's fingers moved slick over his cock, somehow perfect and exact as he worked his body, the stimulation of his touch stoking the heat that pulsed through him with each rock of their hips.

"Please," he gasped, bucking back against Jacob, though he wasn't sure what he was begging for. His body screamed for release, shuddering under the onslaught of sensation, but part of him never wanted this to end. "Jacob," he moaned, putting all of his passion and emotion into the man's name, everything he wanted to say and couldn't. "God, Jacob!"

"Lover!" Jacob's voice broke on the word, thrusts growing erratic, almost desperate. He bucked up hard into him, mouth pressed to his shoulder in a muffled curse as he came, flooding hard and slick inside him as he thrust through the shudders of orgasm. It was just enough to wrench the last of Henry's control from him, and he bucked up into Jacob's fist, crying out as pleasure burst white behind his eyes, Jacob's fingers pulling his climax from him in hot spurts.

"Thank you," Jacob murmured, hands a gentle caress on his chest as they slowly came down. He nestled his face into the crook of his neck, pressing his lips to his skin and breathing in deeply. He didn't say anything more, and Henry couldn't bear to break the silence with words of leaving, though he knew he couldn't keep Jacob any longer.

He pulled on a robe as he watched Jacob dress, helping him, the task interrupted by soft kisses and gentle, silent touch. Finally he saw Jacob to the door, only to have the other man pull him close, kissing him almost desperately before pressing his face to his hair with a trembling sigh. Henry closed his eyes, stroking up and down his back and pressing his lips to dark curls. "Let's do lunch?" There were a few places he knew of where perhaps they might be able to talk in relative privacy... or as close to, on this base.

"I'd like that," Jacob replied softly, giving him a sad smile as he pulled back. His fingertips brushed Henry's jaw, and saying nothing more, he turned and left.

~~~~

 

Henry had half expected a meeting when he reported to the lab in the morning, a few quiet words in an unlabeled office about being more discreet with his dalliances and not taking prospective lovers into restricted areas. Surprisingly, though, there was nothing but a pile of paperwork and a laundry list of tasks, not unlike any other day in the lab. Perhaps the higher-ups were distracted by news - an email sent to those working on his team reported that a second entry pod like the one they had recovered with Murdoch had been recovered the night before off the coast of California, and they'd been advised to prepare for a possible second subject.

He checked in on John Murdoch, recording his vitals - which were strong - and drawing blood to fill an order for one of the labs upstairs. Murdoch was awake, but said nothing, watching him with the same green eyes that he'd gazed into all night. Henry didn't push him to talk, even though there was so much he wanted to say to the man: We'll get you out of here. And when we do... take care of Jacob.

He'd sent a request early in the day to meet with Colonel Willis to try and get Jacob in on the analysis of Murdoch's EKG's. Really he just wanted Jacob closer, wanted him to have easier access to Murdoch. He needed Jacob's intellect, needed him to see what he'd seen, to support the idea that had been forming in the back of his head since the afternoon before when he'd seen the effect that even the scent of the blood wine had on his patient.

He heard nothing back from his request, however, and only the regular battalion of lab assistants and guards came through the lab. It made him feel strangely uneasy and a little on edge, though it wasn't an uncommon result of missing a dose of his medication. The monster that haunted him tugged at the back of his mind, whispering insecurities, trying to catch him off guard, but he pushed him away. Finally he gathered up Murdoch's chart and file containing copies of the EKG readings and headed upstairs to find Jacob himself.

When he stepped off the elevator, however, he was presented with the site of two very flustered airman at the door to the lab that Dr. Hood had been working out of, and an angry female voice inside.

"Jacob Hood is my charge, and if you think I'm stepping foot off this base without him - "

"What's going on here? Where's Doctor Hood?"

The soldiers turned at the sound of his voice, straightening. "We have orders to escort Agents Young and Lee off the base. Their services are no longer required. The FBI has been informed and their transport is waiting outside."

"Without Jacob!" Rachel's cheeks were flushed, hands clenched at her side. "Jekyll, what the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know," he found himself saying, hands tightening on the files. He met the gaze of one of the airmen evenly, pushing aside the cold prickle of dread that was quickly building in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't spent this long living in a military base without learning to hold his own against a uniform, and he didn't need the monster's anger for that. "Who ordered you down here? Where's Jacob Hood?"

The soldier looked to the man beside him, uncertain. "We're not at liberty to discuss that, Doctor - "

"As far as I am aware, Doctor Hood is a civilian contractor under the jurisdiction of the FBI. The Airforce doesn't have the authority to keep him here if the FBI chooses to pull him out." He glanced to Rachel. "Is that correct?"

"Of course," she shot back, with such a cold rage in her voice that Henry found himself glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of it. "And we're pulling him out. And if he's not brought here in five minutes I'll have the Deputy Director on the phone - "

"That won't be necessary, Agent Young." Willis's gruff voice made him all turn. The Colonel was backed by a small regiment of uniformed soldiers, the show of force against two FBI agents almost ridiculous. His words might as well have been a joke. "Please accept my sincere apologies, Agent Young. Doctor Hood has unfortunately come into contact with a highly contagious pathogen, and we have been forced to move him into quarantine immediately. The base will be completely responsible for his recovery, and we have informed the FBI - "

"That's complete bullshit!" Henry spat. All the medication in the world couldn't hold back the intense rage inside of him, the monster that begged to be set free, and he lunged for the Colonel. "Where the hell is Jacob Hood?"

Two soldiers grabbed him immediately, holding him back while Willis eyed him calmly. "Jekyll, this is not your concern."

"The hell it is! Where is Jacob?"

"Jones, Richards," Willis gave a jerk of his head. "Escort Doctor Jekyll to my office. I'll be with him shortly."

An iron grip on each arm and a pair of military rifles convinced him very quickly. He let himself be lead down the hallway, casting a helpless look over his shoulder at Rachel before she was out of sight. Then he was dumped unceremoniously in Willis' office - or at least the one he took meetings in - which was cold and sterile and empty save a single locked filing cabinet and a desk.

Henry paced, nails digging into his palms, knowing he should have seen this coming. The military and scientists here just thought they could take, take anything they wanted without consequence. Why had he thought that being part of the FBI would keep Jacob safe from their whims? Surely the FBI valued him enough to fight for him. But by the time they got through all the red tape... would it be too late?

The office door opened sometime later, and the Colonel strode past the guards stationed outside, face hard and commanding. "Jekyll, your outburst was unacceptable."

"Your actions are unacceptable! You didn't bring Hood here for comparison, you didn't bring him here for a control. You brought him here to experiment on him!"

Willis sat down behind the desk calmly, looking up at him through greying eyebrows. "I'm only going to say this once, Jekyll. What we do in the interests of National Security is not your decision to make. You're a free man because we've assessed you not to be a threat, and if you wish to stay that way I suggest you behave yourself and turn a blind eye to this disappearance."

For a moment Henry could only stare at him, stare and fight down the beast that wanted to burst free and rip the man's head off, kill anyone that stood between him and Jacob. But even if he stopped taking the medication, even if he let him free - let Hyde free - it would take days to get to full strength, and a berserking monster couldn't help Jacob any more than he could.

He stepped back, letting out a long breath. "I understand, sir," he replied coldly, and left.

Back in the lab, Henry stood for a time, gazing through the glass at John Murdoch, at dark curls and pale skin against sterile white hospital linens. He couldn't help but think of Jacob, wondering where they'd taken him, what they'd done to him. He was sure they wouldn't trust him to monitor the man; even if the soldiers had left them alone the night before, he was sure that it would have been reported to the Colonel that the FBI consultant had spent the night in his quarters. And even if he could see Jacob... what could he do for him?

He tried to reassure himself, convince himself that they wouldn't, _couldn't_ do anything to permanently hurt Jacob. But he knew too well how things worked here, how the rights and well being of test subjects - how basic human decency could be set aside without question under the guise of 'national security' or 'the greater good'. He'd experienced it himself, five long years of tests and experiments and drugs and more tests, being treated like a lab rat with no rights at all.

Staring at the work order he'd filled that morning for samples of John Murdoch's blood, Henry accepted the grim realization that he already knew exactly what had been done to Jacob. After all, what better way to unravel a mystery than to try and replicate it?

The best thing he could do for Jacob, as far as his superiors were concerned, would be to try and unravel the mystery. Find a way to undo John Murdoch's reliance on the blood, to control whatever strange mental powers the man had. If he could find a cure for that, then surely it could undo whatever they'd done to Jacob. But would that really be the end of it? He knew that the government wouldn't hesitate for a moment to do everything in their power to replicate the man's superhuman abilities. Telekinesis in the wrong hands.... well, Henry didn't even want to contemplate how horribly that could turn out.

Undeniably, there was only one option left, and it was one that would very likely not end well for Henry. The beast inside him seethed, furious that he would even consider such a sacrifice for anyone, let alone this man that he hadn't even known for a week. He pushed the complaints away and took his next pill. What was the point of continuing to live if this was all there ever was? He was as much a prisoner now as he'd been when he'd been in John Murdoch's place.

He felt remarkably calm as he went about his work, quietly preparing. Administration hadn't yet taken away his access to Jacob's lab, or touched any of his work - presumably a new batch of scientists would be brought in to analyze, to step in where Jacob had left off. To study Jacob himself. There was no sign of Jacob's handlers, and it felt strange and lonely to stand by himself in the lab that still held their personal touches, all the while knowing that none of them would be coming back. He ran his fingers over Jacob's jacket where it hung on a hook on the wall, leaning in to indulge for a moment in the hint of his lover's scent. Then he quietly gathered up all the samples that had been left in the lab, secreting them in his lab coat pockets, heading back downstairs.

Henry's own office wasn't far, and he stopped there next, reclaiming the pill bottle in the upper desk drawer. He'd recently had the prescription filled, so between this and the smaller bottle he carried with him, he was sure he had three weeks - perhaps a little longer if he carefully monitored which doses he could miss. After that, well... by then it wouldn't matter anymore.

There was precious little left of the blood wine the man had arrived with, but he poured what remained into a larger storage container, carefully screwing the lid closed. Then he waited until the nurse on duty had left to take the hourlies upstairs, sent his lab tech on an errand, and shoved one of the heavy lab tables up against the door.

The lab didn't have any visible cameras, but he had no doubt that they were watching somehow - he'd have to move fast. He rolled up the left sleeve of his lab coat and the shirt underneath, grabbing a piece of rubber tubing from a drawer and knotting it quickly around his bicep. Then he grabbed a syringe and the blood wine and pushed his way through the doors to the containment room.

~~~~


	7. Chapter 7

If there'd been a worst case scenario to their plan to reintegrate the city with its planet of origin, this would be it, John reflected in a rare conscious moment. He'd somehow lost control of the pod on his way to earth and blacked out on impact, waking up in this cold, sterile place - restrained, drugged and unable to Tune. Helpless. He'd given himself headaches in his more lucid moments by trying to Tune, but the drugs and the strange buzzing in the room made it impossible to focus his mental powers. The vials of Daniel's blood were nowhere to be seen, and he'd assumed that they'd been destroyed in the crash until the day he'd awoken from a darkness filled with pain to the familiar and craved scent of honey. Of Daniel, of the light of his world. Daniel, who he'd probably never see again. The taste of the blood was almost painful in its intensity, singing of power as it rushed through his body, and for a brief moment everything was clear and still and he'd almost, almost managed to break free of the fog. Then it was gone, and he was a prisoner once again.

The small taste of blood, however, had given him a focus. Now his lucid moments were spent fighting against the drugs, the buzz: not trying to tune, but to explore. If he could see beyond the room, find the point of issue of the noise and the drugs, then perhaps the next time they let him drink he could use that moment of clarity to destroy it. People came and went, and for the most part John ignored them, letting himself fade in and out of consciousness. But when the doors to the room banged open forcefully he opened his eyes, taking in the man in front of him. The one who'd given him the blood. Blue eyes, no doctor's mask this time. He looked almost panicked, and it took John a moment to realize that the man was speaking to him.

"... Jacob. The man who looks like you. They're experimenting on him. Just tell me you'll get him out of here and you can have the blood, you can have _me_ , please...."

There was a sharp prick at his arm, and John looked down to see the syringe slide into his vein as it had so many times before. But this time the doctor's own sleeve was rolled up to the shoulder, a piece of rubber tied tight around his bicep, and John suddenly understood what he meant he meant to do.

"Don't! You can't undo it!"

The man glanced up at him before extracting the syringe from his arm. "I have to. You can be angry with me when Jacob's safe." With that he stepped away and neatly injected the blood into his own vein.

John had no memory of his first encounter with the blood, nothing beyond waking up in the silent hotel bathroom, naked in the cooling bath with no identity. He had nothing beyond what Daniel had told him. Watching it happen now was much different than he'd ever imagined. 

He could sense it, smell the blood working on the man, the scent of him changing from sour and nauseating to rich and luscious and alive, so delicious that John moaned aloud, every cell in his starved body screaming for sustenance. But the doctor had staggered backwards, ripping the tubing off his arm. His body fell heavily back against the wall, eyes glazed and unfocused, lips parted to shivering gasps of breath. His whole frame began to tremble almost madly as the blood pulsed through him, fingers scrambling for purchase on the wall behind him, and John couldn't tell it was from pleasure or pain.

He heard muffled shouts from outside the lab, followed by a loud thud. With the flicker of his restricted abilities he caught the image of a number of armed men outside the door to the lab, trying to break down the door to get in. "Doctor," he said, fighting rising panic as he stared at the doors and trying to pull the man from his swoon. "Doctor, they're coming!"

The man struggled visibly to come back to himself, casting a panicked glance towards the doors before moving back to his side. He pulled a small package from the breast pocket of his lab coat with trembling fingers, pressing the two small pieces of foam into John's ears, partly blocking the sound that had constantly drilled into his brain for days. Then he detached the tubing from the needle in John's arm. "Get Jacob out of here," he urged again, then screwed open a small container, and the scent of Daniel hit John like a sledgehammer. He strained forward against the restraints, drawing hungrily from the container as it was pressed to his lips, lush and rich and everything his starving body ached for.

The blood brought with it a surge of clarity, and John lashed out, mentally targeting the source of that horrible sound, destroying it. In the resulting silence his strength returned in a rush, and the restraints that held his body disappeared at a thought. He grabbed the bottle tightly, hand clenching around the doctor's, his mind pulling every last drop of the precious liquid from the plastic container. The soldiers at the door were just as easy to keep away, a concrete barrier erecting between them at a thought.

He moved without thinking, yanking the doctor down against him, the buttons breaking off his lab coat and the shirt underneath as he pulled them away to bare his neck. Hardly realizing what he was doing, John found his mouth at the man's throat, his mind tearing open the skin, giving him access to the hot, rich taste of his blood. He couldn't pull away despite the terror he could feel from the other man, couldn't force his fingers to release their grip on his shoulders, couldn't stop from drinking. It was too good, too necessary after having gone so long without.

I'm sorry, he tried to send to the man, feeling a little sick at the rush of desire that came with the blood. He opened his mind and his memories to him: to Henry, he realized. I won't harm you. I'll help you. But even in the midst of his body's hunger this still felt wrong, a mix of guilt and disgust with himself for taking the blood forcibly, for so intimately violating this man who'd only tried to help him.

Henry's memories were full of his own image, dark curls and green eyes and a tangible feeling of desire and adoration. For a moment John thought that Henry had been fantasizing about him, but then he realized that these memories were real. This was the other man he'd seen, the mirror image of himself that he'd almost thought he dreamed through the haze of drugs and pain. And what this man felt towards this other John was so vivid, so intense and yet so desperate and afraid that it almost took his breath away.

Jacob.

Underneath that were older memories, images of Henry in his place. He'd been held here against his will, experimented on. He was just as much a prisoner as John.

John forced himself to pull away, closing the wound he'd made with a touch of his power. It wasn't enough, not nearly enough after starving for so long, but it would have to be for now. His head spun with the rush of power and his body ached for physical sensation, but he'd already violated the man with the feeding; he wouldn't do more. "I'm sorry," he said aloud, panting, trying to calm himself. "I'll get you out of here, and I'll find your Jacob. I didn't intend to feed from you, I just...."

"It's all right," Henry said quickly, voice low, and he stepped back to lean heavily against the wall. "I told you that you could have me. I did have an idea of what that would entail, though I didn't quite expect it would feel... like that."

John nodded, mind already exploring the area beyond the room, taking note of the structure, the people, the way to the outside. "It's always been intimate, always been sexual. I'll show you properly later, it will have to be later, I hope you don't mind. For now we have to get out of here."

Henry ran a hand through his hair and nodded, forcing a lopsided grin. "Don't worry, I'm used to bottling up base and carnal desires."

John stood with a sharp nod, tuning away the wires and tubes still attached to him, replacing the flimsy white gown with proper clothes. His body was weaker than he expected, but the blood helped, strengthening him as the warmth radiated through him. He pulled the other man close, one arm around his waist, feeling Henry shiver against him at his touch, pressing closer despite his intended restraint. "Hold on," John told him, then looked up to the ceiling and started for the surface.

They were many floors underground, but it was simple enough to push the building aside, to break apart iron and concrete, the chasm in the building stretching all the way up to the roof, to daylight. He'd been careful not to catch anyone in the rubble, but he could still see chaos as he rose quickly to the surface, people running and climbing through the rubble, soldiers receiving barked, frantic orders. It was the kind of chaos that proved the perfect distraction.

Henry was white-faced when John reached the roof, setting him down on the concrete. "Can you get down from here? If I go find your Jacob, can you find us a way to get out of here?"

"Of course." Henry didn't say anything about the rubble or the flight, jaw set and determined. He headed towards a ladder on the side of the building, and John disappeared back inside.

He dropped a few floors before stopping, landing lightly on the jagged concrete edge of one of the floors and sending his awareness out. Everything broke down to patterns of matter, matter that was still and matter that moved, air and stone and water and flesh. It only took him a few moments to locate the man in question, the feel of him unmistakable. There were people between them, walls, barriers, but it was easy enough to push it all aside with a touch of his mind, to put the armed men to sleep. When he found Jacob the man was in a room much like the one he'd been held captive in, drugged unconscious and strapped to a hospital bed. They'd changed him too, John realized instantly. There was no trace of the smell of human about him, just a warm, familiar scent the same as his own.

John tugged the restraints undone, pulling the needles from his skin and closing the punctures with a touch of his mind. He Tuned the poor man some proper clothes, then gathered him up in his arms and started for the surface again. There were more men in his way, and he fought to put them to sleep as well, though he could feel the strain on his mind, the fatigue of having done too much too quickly when his body had been starved for so long. He could only pray that Henry had done as he'd asked.

He crossed the roof in quick strides, pausing at the edge for a moment to survey the area. There were squadrons of armed men heading towards the building, helicopters warming up - too much to deal with individually. He closed his eyes for a moment and tightened his grip on Jacob, locating the familiar pulse that meant 'Henry' with his mind. Then he focused, reached out with his mind, and let sleep blanket everything else in the compound.

A hot flare of pain burned in the back of his mind, and he barely managed to levitate down to the ground, stumbling as he landed. Henry pulled up beside them driving a small blue sedan, and he lept out to pull them both into the back seat before gunning the car towards a gate that John could see in the huge fence that ringed the property. The guard arm was down, but John couldn't find the energy to tune it away, and it smashed into pieces as the car drove through it.

The throb of pain grew stronger as they moved, and he knew that in moments he'd be too far away, he'd have to give up control. They'd come after them with regiments of men and huge black vehicles like the had when they'd found his craft in the desert. He had to stop them, had to target something that would affect every vehicle...

Wires. John grit his teeth and lashed out, a wave of power identifying and dissolving everything outside everything that might resemble a wire within miles, outside of the car itself. There was a stabbing shock of pain that he hoped meant success, then unconsciousness claimed him and he let go.

~~~~

 

Sleep for Daniel was fitful, as it had been every day since John's departure. The taste of the blood had helped, but images of John still haunted his subconscious. This world was a nightmare, and the idea that bringing the city here would subject the people to a life that could easily be worse than the life the Strangers had wrought for them sat heavy in his mind. Somewhere along the lines he'd begun to think of them as _his_ people, to think of John and himself as some kind of silent protectors, secret saviors. It had been a bad, bad idea to even consider bringing them here.

His mind supplied him with images of what could happen to John at this strange, secret base the others had referred to - barren halls and bright white lights, sterile medical tools. Somehow it all blurred together with so many horrific images from his past: suddenly John was strapped to the Strangers' injection wheel in a sterile white lab, surrounded by Strangers in clean white lab coats and surgical masks who were slowly carving spirals into his skin and collecting the blood that trickled from the wounds....

"Doctor Schreber."

Daniel awoke with a start, Jack's hand on his arm, leaning over him. His arms had tightened automatically around the bag, but he relaxed and sat up. "Jack. Please accept my apologies for the slight alterations I made to your basement, I felt it safest for myself and David if it was completely sunproof...."

"It's fine," Jack replied. "Thank you. David was very appreciative as well. It's not quite sundown yet, but we need to move, and the sooner the better. How are you with indirect sunlight?"

"There should be little problem, as long as I'm not exposed for long. It saps my energy, I'm afraid."

"All right. I have a truck outside, backed up to my front door. It will be completely dark inside. David can get in under shade, can you - "

Daniel reached his awareness out, finding the truck in question. Simple enough to tune an enclosed passage that covered the distance from the house to the truck, blocking out the light. "It's done. We can go now."

Jack looked a little taken aback, but nodded. He disappeared into the other room, coming back with David curled in his arms, fast asleep. The vampire looked almost innocent, and Daniel wondered briefly at the amount of trust he'd obviously placed in this mortal man.

He slipped back into the soft brown leather jacket that David had insisted he wear against the cold for their trip here the night before, though he'd put his foot down at doing anything more than modernizing the cut of his suit. Then he followed Jack upstairs, out the open front door and through the simple tunnel that took them up into the back of the truck.

David's bike was already inside, securely strapped to the side, and Jack settled David down carefully on the mattress on the floor. He tucked a blanket around him, a strange sort of tenderness to his expression, but schooled it away as he straightened. He picked up a strange, heavy jacket from the floor and handed it to Daniel. "This is a flack jacket, it will stop most bullets. Can you make two more for yourself and David?"

Daniel ran a hand over the fabric and nodded. "How long do we have?"

"Until we get there? Five or six hours, give or take. It will be dark by the time we get there, safe to go ahead with the extraction." Jack gave a soft smile then, a little bit of the worry melting away with it. "Get some rest, Vampire. We'll take a pit stop when the sun sets and go over the game plan."

"Thank you," Daniel replied, reaching to touch Jack's arm to reinforce his words. "Jack, I am more grateful for your help than words can say."

Jack gave a simple nod, glancing away. "I've had loved ones end up in bad situations. It's one of the reasons I'm on the run now. Just...." he hesitated, watching Daniel carefully. "If something does happen... promise me you won't take it out on innocents. I'm fully aware of how corrupt our government can be here on earth, but there are a lot of innocent people, good people here, and it's not their fault."

The thought of not being able to rescue John or worse - being too late - made him almost sick, but Daniel nodded. "Understood. I will not harm an innocent soul, you have my word."

Jack nodded again, apparently satisfied, and left, pulling the door to the truck closed. Daniel waited until he'd returned to the house, then Tuned away the passage, taking a moment to block the small gaps in the back of truck where sunlight tried to sneak in. He Tuned the jackets as Jack had requested, giving David's a leather outer shell as an afterthought, then curled on the mattress next to him to rest.

At some point in time during the trip he awoke to find David curled up against his back. It was strangely comforting, and Daniel found himself thinking that he'd been very lucky to be found by David.

~~~~


	8. Chapter 8

When they'd left the base mid-afternoon, Henry hadn't thought as far as a destination. The only thing that mattered was getting away. He felt a moment of conflict when the signs for Las Vegas started to appear - go there because it was a good place to disappear, or avoid it because it was the obvious place to disappear?

In the end, he took the turn, unable to think of any alternatives. In any case, they'd yet to have been taken over by a cloud of demanding black helicopters, so perhaps they'd actually managed to make a clean getaway.

Finally making it into the city, Henry glanced to the back seat to where John was slumped against the window, Jacob sprawled along the seat half on top of him. Both were asleep; he'd have to figure this out himself.

He could do this. He had to.

It had been quite some time since he'd been to Vegas, but it was simple enough to find a rundown motel. Still, he knew they'd need a lot more than just a seedy motel to keep them safe. He tried to think through all the risks they might be facing. They'd have to ditch the car somewhere, find new transportation that couldn't be traced back to the base. God, what were they going to do for cash? They certainly couldn't use any of their credit cards. Henry stared at the dash helplessly for a moment, then popped the glove box, pushing aside pens. Surprisingly there was a plain leather billfold in the very back very much like his own, and when he opened it Henry found several hundred dollars in worn bills. Someone's emergency fund, then? He wasn't going to question it. Leaving his lab coat crumpled on the passenger's seat, he cast a glance to the sleeping men behind him and stepped out of the car.

Stepping out brought another surprise - the car, previously a bright blue, was now a grundgy mid-brown. The plates were from Montana, and while he couldn't remember what the number was before he was fairly certain that had changed. Perhaps it had been John's doing somewhere along the way?

He gave a little shake of his head, locking the car and heading into the motel office to check in, grabbing the worn keys for what the desk man said was a deluxe suite, which meant it had a king sized bed and pull out couch. “As long as it’s clean,” he said, distractedly.

“Scrubbed down this morning,” the clerk said, taking his cash without asking for anything but a name, which Henry gave as Danny Jones, hoping he'd remember the fake in the morning.

Jacob stirred when he opened the back door to the car, blinking up at Henry sleepily. “Henry? Where are we?”

“Vegas,” Henry replied, helping him out of the car with an arm around his waist. He tried to ignore the strangely compelling scent that almost overwhelmed his senses. “Can you walk?”

“I think so. Vegas? Isn’t that moving a little fast, lover?”

It took a moment for him to catch the mischievous glint in Jacob’s eyes, and he laughed softly, indulging in a soft kiss pressed to Jacob’s mouth. “Help me get John inside and I’ll fill you in.”

He shouldered most of John's weight himself; Jacob still looked a little dazed, a little unsteady on his feet. He blinked owlishly around the motel room as they set John down in the bed.

"Sorry it's not the Ritz." Henry took John's pulse, reassured when it seemed fine. Certainly better than he'd been in days.

"Well, we'll say it's the fugitive Ritz, at least." Jacob perched on the side of the bed, eyebrows knitting together as he looked down at John. "I know we had talked about a plan... but I don't remember it actually happening, and... I didn't think you were coming with us?"

Henry sighed, sitting next to him. "What _do_ you remember?"

Jacob's lips pressed together as he thought back. "The Colonel called me in to... look at the EEG readings, they said, but then...." his eyesbrows knit together. "I don't know...."

"They took you," Henry said softly. "Likely drugged you. Gave you John's blood so that they could study the effects. Jacob, I couldn't just... I couldn't...."

Jacob reached out to take his hand. And though Henry half expected a lecture about taking care of himself, Jacob simply smiled. "Thank you."

Henry managed a weak half-smile. "Even if I've condemned you to being a fugitive of the US government?"

"There's worse things to be. Lab rat."

"Yeah." Henry glanced down, nodding slowly. "Yeah... there is."

Jacob squeezed his hand. "We'll be okay," he said softly. "We'll get out of here. Find a lab. I'll reverse engineer your meds. I won't let you...."

He said it so earnestly that Henry had to swallow down a lump in his throat. He nodded. "Okay. Okay." Then he looked down at the still sleeping John and let out a breath. "Just hope he can help us get out of here before the government tracks us down.

~~~

Jack Bauer had always considered himself a man that was not easily swayed. It was a fair assessment, considering the master manipulators he'd gone to battle with.

He tried not to think about the fact that the one he continually lost to was the one that could worm his way into Jack's bed with nothing more than a smirk and a quirk of an eyebrow.

It wasn't entirely a failing, he tried to rationalize. David had certainly never had any reason to act against him, and there was little chance of that - not for a centuries old vampire masquerading as little more than a young California biker punk. And he'd certainly proved an invaluable ally in the past. Would he have survived his mindless anger after Renee's death, if it hadn't been for David? Would he have survived his campaign of revenge?

David was chaos, a force of nature to be reckoned with. But despite all that, he was refreshingly straightforward and uncomplicated. And there was very little else in Jack's life that was that way. Not anymore.

So he agreed to help. He wasn't certain he could ever say no to David, anyway. 

Certainly not when it involved David in his bed.

David's hand was in his jeans even before they'd made it to the bedroom that morning, cupping his cock, squeezing just a shade too tight. Jack's head still spun from the touch of his teeth, the intoxicating, blinding rush that came from being fed from, every nerve in his body buzzing and aching for more sensation. He pressed his hips into David's palm, not even trying to protest about the man in the other room. There was no point in playing at propriety. No point in trying to deny how much he wanted the other man, despite how completely insane and certainly unwise it must be to willingly go to bed with a vampire. Again.

He moved his hands from David's ass to pull his jacket and top off, biting at his bottom lip as he yanked at the closure on his jeans.

David gave an appreciative gasp at the bite. "Mm, lover... you _have_ missed me," he purred, mouth hot as he moved to lick up his neck.

Jack growled low in his throat, yanking his jeans down. "Missed you appearing at my door to wiggle your ass at me and make unreasonable requests?"

David's laugh was throaty and unmistakably devious. He'd taken off his boots sometime before this, Jack noticed as he deftly stepped out of his jeans, turning his back and stalking deliberately the last few steps towards the mattress in the corner of the room, his bare ass pert and round and appealing. "If I remember correctly, the only requests I've ever made of you before this have been purely sexual."

Jack remembered, years and years ago, being like David. Young and completely confident in his own desirability, in shoulders just attaining a man's broadness, a wiry strength in his muscles. Near perfect smooth skin. Before time and far, far too many fights had left his body a mass of solid muscle and scars. But then, he'd never been as perfect as David was now - ice blue eyes preternaturally beautiful, blond hair bleached nearly white despite not having seen the sun for... what, 400 years, he claimed? And really, he'd never been, and never would be like David.

He told himself it was entirely the effect of the blood, that his unbearable desire was caused only by David's feeding and not any perverse desire to claim and mark and possess this perfected version of himself, young and ancient all at once. But the truth was, all David really had to do was crook a finger and beckon.

"You coming, or you just going to stand there and fuck me with your eyes?" David sprawled effortlessly on the mattress, completely unashamed of his nudity or state of arousal. In moments Jack was on him, dropping to the mattress to claim his mouth in a hungry kiss, pressing one knee between his thighs. David gave a muffled, appreciative noise into the fierceness of his kisses, sucking and biting as he rolled his hips up against him, cock rubbing against his t-shirt covered stomach, leaving a damp spot on the soft cotton.

"I'll fuck you with whatever you want," Jack growled, pulling back just long enough to pull his shirt off over his head.

David gave another delighted laugh. He bit sharply at Jack's bottom lip as he stroked his hands down the length of his back, fingers digging into the arch as he rocked up against him again. Then he flipped him without warning. He yanked Jack's jeans and boxers down just enough to free his cock, then leaned down to suck him into his mouth with a hungry groan.

"Dammit, David - " His hips jerked up into David's mouth before he could stop himself, but it only made his lover groan, sucking him down more hungrily, swallowing around him. He pulled one of Jack's hands from the bed to his hair, encouraging him to pull. It was a request Jack was familiar with and more than willing to grant. He tangled his fingers tight in David's white-blond locks, fingers digging into his scalp as he pushed up into his mouth. David took it with a groan, half choking as he swallowed him down.

He whined as Jack pulled him off completely, his lips red from their kisses, shining with saliva, just like Jack's cock. His eyelashes fluttered, looking up at Jack from under the thick fringe, intense. Demanding. "Don't stop, lover. Fuck my mouth. Harder. Be rough with me. I know you want to."

"Fuck...." He pushed back into David's mouth almost before he'd finished speaking, thrusting past those soft, pink lips and into his mouth. The slick, tight heat and the press of his tongue was exquisite alone; David's completely gratifying reactions made it even better, groaning hungrily around him despite half-gagging on a harder thrust. He fought against the clench of Jack's fingers in his hair until he could grind his face into his groin, his throat constricting tight around his shaft, milking him as he reached down to jerk his own cock.

"Fuck, David...." Jack forced himself to pull back from the exquisite sensation just so he could thrust into it again, then again. "This what you want, you dirty little cock slut? Want me to fuck your mouth and come down your throat?"

David's muffled groans grew more desperate. Then he pulled away suddenly in a flash of preternatural strength rarely shown. His pupils were blown wide as he looked up at him. "I want you to fuck me, lover. Just like this. Want to feel your jeans scrape my ass as you pound me into the bed. Want you to make me come on your cock."

Jack flipped him with a growl, pinning him easily, nipping sharply at his shoulder as he ground his hips against David's ass. "Fucking minx," he breathed, then moved to grab supplies from the bedside.

David grabbed his hand, pulling it back. "No. Just like this. Fuck me hard and rough, my warrior."

With anyone else, he would have argued. With David, it was futile. Instead he pulled back, kneeing David's thighs further apart, spreading his ass cheeks with both hands and spitting on his hole. "You just want to feel like a porn star, you needy little slut."

David laughed, breathless, squirming under him. "Always do with you. Fuck, come on, Jack. Fuck me with that huge cock, god - " his words broke to a whine as Jack wrapped a hand around the base of his cock and pressed the head of it against his ass. He pushed into him, hissing at the feel of David's body stretching around him, and once the head of his cock had pushed past the tight ring of muscle he gave his shaft a few firm strokes, jerking it inside him, stretching him more.

"God, Jack!" David already sounded completely wrecked, hands clawing at the sheets as he tried to fuck back onto his cock. "Oh god fuck me - !"

He bottomed out with a few hard thrusts, leaning over to bite at David's neck. He was almost too tight and there wasn't enough lube, but sex between them had always been about pleasure with a side of pain. David rutted back against him shamelessly, crying out his pleasure, ass smacking back against his hips again and again. "Oh fuck yes, Jack!" 

It was far too easy to lose himself to this, meeting David's aggression with his own until each thrust ground his hips down into the mattress, pulling a harsh, sobbed cry of pleasure from David's lips. The exquisite squeeze of David's body around his cock was completely all encompassing, for those few moments eclipsing every bit of his past, all the remembered hurt. Jack let himself go to it completely, biting hard at the crook of his neck, hips driving into him with punishing pace.

"Oh fuck yes, yes, yes - !" he could feel David shudder under him as he cried out, breathless and broken and triumphant all at once. Then he grabbed Jack's arm, pulling his wrist to his mouth and biting into his flesh with savage fierceness, pulling hard at his blood. The pain hit him seconds before the rush of thrall, and his body reacted without thought, slamming into him hard and rough until the overwhelming mix of pleasure burst bright hot behind his eyes and he came in hot spurts deep in that tight ass. 

David's cry against his skin was completely triumphant, grinding back against him and clenching around his cock, almost impossibly tight. Then he collapsed down onto the bed, gasping, laughing breathlessly. "Oh, fuck.... god, I missed you."

Jack echoed his laugh with a chuckle, content for the moment to just enjoy the afterglow and not think about anything else. "Or you missed what I do to you."

"Or both." David licked a spot of blood from his now-healed wrist. He gave a low, appreciative moan as Jack eased away, then pulled him back down against him, wrapping his arms and one leg around him. "Sun's rising. Stay. Sleep with me. Can leave to work when I'm asleep."

Jack chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to his hair. "Careful, or I might start thinking you actually like cuddling."

"I'll deny everything," David mumbled sleepily, still managing a smirk before nestling his face against Jack's shoulder, breathing growing slow and heavy.

It certainly wasn't particularly comfortable, especially not with his jeans still pulled down around his hips. But he saw precious little of David, and especially not David like this, relaxed and looking almost innocent in sleep. Jack watched him sleep for a time, then carefully extracted himself from his grasp, tucking a blanket over him and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

David stirred, lips turning up into a brief smile, then fell back asleep.

He couldn't help feel a certain fondness as he dressed and carried his sleeping form into the truck later that day. If he were to be completely truthful with himself, that was why he always felt himself swayed by David. It was an attachment he shouldn't allow himself, especially not when it meant agreeing to this - infiltrating one of the most secretive military installations in the US. Especially considering that this government and at least one other's wanted him and likely didn't care if that was dead or alive.

Incredibly unwise, he thought again as he watched the sun creep towards the horizon in his rear view mirrors, casting the truck's shadow long over the Nevada desert. But part of him couldn't help but feel like it was good to have a cause again, even just for a little while. David's cause.

It was worth the risk.

~~~

"They're going to be looking for us," Jacob murmured, looking out into the motel parking lot through the drawn blinds, stripes of gold on his skin.

Henry had been flicking channels, the volume on low. He half expected to see his own face on there, and tried to take some comfort in the fact that the Air Force at least hadn't resorted to painting them as wanted criminals. He moved to stand beside Jacob, and when the other man leaned into him with a soft sigh, he wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him close.

"Yeah," he murmured. He turned his face to Jacob's hair, pressing a kiss to the dark curls and resisting the urge to breathe in deep of the strange, sweetly rich scent he now had. "And they're not going to give up on it. Not with what John can do."

"And what we might now be able to do?" Jacob turned to look up at him, cupping his cheek. "Henry... if they don't know about you... maybe you should go back. I shouldn't have gotten you caught up in this, I...."

Henry shook his head. "They'd test me. And even if they didn't... I want to stay with you. It's the first thing I've wanted in a very long time. If you don't want that then we can take our chances on our own, but - "

Jacob shook his head, a small, sad smile on his lips. Then he leaned in to kiss him. "I want it, too," he said softly. "Whatever crazy path we've set ourselves on.... I like you. I'm glad it was you. Just sorry I got you wrapped up in this."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Henry murmured in response, returning the kiss and wishing he felt safe enough to do more. "Just have to hope your twin over there will have some ideas about getting out of the country once he wakes up."

Jacob nodded, but looked more troubled. "Henry, I... I have to get word to Jack."

"Bauer?" He was familiar with the man only as a name on a test result and what little Jacob had told him that day. "You think they'll go after him?"

"With us gone? Of course. He won't be easy for them to find, but... he needs to know of the risks." Then he looked back towards the bed, eyebrows furrowing. "... he will wake up, won't he?"

The thought of anything else was too terrible to contemplate. Henry tightened his arms around Jacob, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"He has to."

~~~


	9. Chapter 9

"Jesus Christ, Jack! I told you'd I'd help you, why the hell didn't you wait?" On the other end of the secure line, Chloe O'Brien was pissed. "I even figured out how to take out their primary power line and bypass the retinal scans, do you know how hard that is with a fucking top secret air force base? Now they're calling it some kind of terrorist attack and thank god your name's not attached to it yet because that's totally _exactly_ what you need, you know."

"Chloe - Chloe stop - what the hell are you talking about?"

"Whatever bullshit you pulled in Groom Lake! The chatter's through the roof, Jack! And they know that your fugitive is missing - "

"Chloe, give me a minute." Jack glanced back at the sliver of sun on the horizon, then pulled off the road into a rest stop, turning to put the truck's nose to the west. Then he hopped out of the cab and rounded the truck, pulling open the door to Daniel's expectant gaze and David's sleepy one. He perched on the edge of the truck bed and put the phone on speaker. "All right, talk. What's going on at Groom Lake?"

"Don't you know? You did it!"

"No. We're still on our way. And obviously too late. What do you know?"

On the other end of the phone, Chloe's sigh was exasperated. "Groom Lake went dark at fourteen hundred hours today. Radio, internet, cell signals, HAM radio, everything. Like they'd been taken out by a missile except satellite confirmed they were still there. Airforce scrambled some jets, then put out an alert for three fugitives with a highly dangerous weapon. Shoot on sight."

Even in the darkness, Daniel looked pale. "Oh god."

"We haven't been there," Jack told her again. "My resources can't act during the day, you know that. What's the status at the base?"

"They placed an evac order and started shipping in both troops and in repair crews. No idea what the landscape's like, but it's nothing I can help you with."

Jack nodded slowly, mind filling in the blanks with his knowledge of Air force protocols. Then he looked at Daniel. "Any way your man got out on his own?"

Daniel considered, then shook his head slowly. "If he were, he would have gotten out before now. Unless he perhaps had help?"

"They did say three fugitives." David had moved to perch on the side of his bike.

"And a weapon." Jack looked to Daniel. "Maybe he's the weapon, if he can do what you can."

Daniel's lips pursed, fingers fidgeting with the handle of his bag where it sat on his lap. "Is there a chance that this is unrelated? Could he still be there?"

David snorted. "Could anyone else on the planet knock out an entire air force base?"

"You'd be surprised at the kind of infiltrations I've seen." Jack looked to Daniel. "Should we proceed?"

"Jack! You can't possibly still be considering - "

"Chloe, listen. I need you to get into the satellite data. Find out what happened. If our target left we need to find out where he is before the government does."

"Fine. There's something else you should know, though. FBI chatter was noisy this morning about the base. Before the incident. One of their consultants was there on assignment and disappeared without warning, the Air Force kicked his handlers off base."

"You think he has something to do with this."

"I don't know. Jack, it's Doctor Hood."

For a moment Jack couldn't respond, overcome with dread. Then he forced himself to push it away. "Understood. Call me back when you have something." He clicked off, then looked at Daniel expectantly.

Daniel looked down at his bag, letting out a long breath. "I've already asked far too much of both of you. Get me as close as you safely can. I'll take care of the rest on my own. I can put the base to sleep, I'll stay undetected."

"Fuck that. You think I came all the way out here to wait in a truck?" David plopped back down to perch cross-legged on the mattress. "Besides, my boys are on their way. Probably about two hours out, as the bat flies. Extra hands, better to search."

"David, I can't let you - "

"You can put the base to sleep, right? Sounds like a good plan to me. Faster we can check, sooner we can get on to finding him if he's not there."

Jack nodded. "He has a point. And I'd much rather go in with you than have to go in and rescue you if things go south."

For a moment Daniel looked distinctly overwhelmed. Then he gave a small smile and nodded. "Thank you. I... thank you."

~~~

 

"I'm worried," Jacob murmured, perched on the side of the bed, watching John sleep.

"His vitals still seem good...." When the sun had gone down, Henry had gone back to the car and unexpectedly discovered a medical bag in the trunk, which had let them monitor John a little more exactly. They'd both decided it was too risky to go to any kind of restaurant or convenience store, but there'd been a surprisingly well-stocked vending machine in the ice room with sub sandwiches. But now it was nearing midnight and John showed no signs of stirring.

"How different is this than how he was at the base?"

Henry shook his head, lips pinched. "I don't know. We kept him so drugged...." then he stopped, considering him for a long moment. "But there's something else I could try."

"Something else?"

Henry didn't answer, crossing the room to the bathroom. There was a disposable razor sitting next to the tiny hotel toiletries, and he pulled off the plastic and the guard as he walked back towards the bed, twisting the top of the razor until the blade popped free of the plastic. He ignored Jacob's questioning look, perching on the other side of the bed. Then he sliced the blade deep into the pad of his thumb.

There'd been a subtle, spicy smell to Henry that Jacob had noticed every time they'd been close since they arrived. Suddenly it was so strong that Jacob could barely breathe, senses overwhelmed with the compelling scent of something not entirely unlike gingerbread.

John drew a sudden, sharp breath, lips parting as Henry pressed his thumb to his mouth. He sucked the digit into his mouth, giving a soft groan in the back of his throat that was far more sensual than needy, and Jacob couldn't help but wonder if that was what he sounded like during sex. John's eyelashes fluttered, and he curled one hand around Henry's wrist holding it in place.

It was hard to miss the little shiver that ran through Henry in return, the way his lush lips parted on slightly laboured breath. Jacob glanced away, half awkward, half jealous.

Finally John tugged Henry's thumb from his lips, and there wasn't a trace of blood left on it - or, Jacob noticed, a trace of the cut. He blinked up at Henry muzzily. "... Hello, handsome."

"Hello yourself." Henry's smile was soft and fond. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a Mac Truck," he replied with a wry smile. Then his gaze moved to Jacob, and his smile widened. "Mmm. _Hello_ , handsome."

A surprised laugh bubbled from Jacob's lips. "Hey yourself."

John sat up and leaned towards him, green eyes bright with good humor. It had been strange to watch himself sleeping; it was stranger still now that John was awake, gaze moving over Jacob's face with both curiosity and appreciation. He reached out to run his fingers along Jacob's jaw. "You know, at the risk of sounding like a complete narcissist... you're incredibly good looking."

Jacob chuckled again, a little self-conscious, his cheeks heating. "I think that's the very definition of narcissism."

"Ah, but you're not me, now, are you?" John leaned back against the pillows. He glanced to Henry, then back, his smile softening. "Your man went to quite some lengths to get you out of there, you know."

Henry looked down, adorably bashful. Jacob felt a sudden surge of affection for him, and chided himself for his earlier jealousy. It was difficult, though, when John seemed so charming and sure of himself. "It was for both of us," he told John. "We were working on a plan for you. We just didn't expect - "

"That they'd turn you?" John glanced away, lips pursing. "Well. I didn't expect a lot of things about this world, but that's in line with what I've experienced."

"I'm sorry," Henry said, eyebrows knit. "If there'd been anything - "

"I know." John smiled, covering his hand where it sat on the bed. His voice softened. "I saw. You're a good man, Henry Jekyll. Despite what they've made you do. Despite the beast. Thank you."

Henry swallowed visibly, voice little more than a whisper. "You... you saw?"

"When you gave yourself to me. Through the blood. It's one of our gifts. You must have seen too? My city, my... my mate...."

Henry gave a small, terse nod. "And those men with the white faces. Is that what we'll become?"

"Oh god no. No. They made us, but they were never human."

"But we are...." Jacob felt slightly silly even saying the words. "Some kind of... vampire."

John shrugged. "It's as good a word as any. They were alien. One collective mind in many parts, using human bodies to prolong the lifespan of their dying race. They needed human blood - regular humans, not our blood - so they created the city as a farm for blood. For new vessels as they needed them. Reset our memories to keep us from guessing the truth. That was Daniel's purpose. They forced his addiction on their blood to control him. The side effect was that he developed their powers. And then he gave them to me."

Jacob shook his head slowly, mind racing over his words. It was hard not to look for an explanation, to try and hypothesize as to how such a thing could ever be possible. But what frame of reference could he have, even with all his knowledge, to something so _alien_? "Your city?"

John's eyebrows quirked. "In space." Jacob's astonishment must have been visible, because John leaned forward again, cupping his cheek. "You'll see. May I feed from you?"

Jacob nodded slowly. "Whatever you need."

He half-expected John to lean in and bite his neck. Instead, the other man lifted Jacob's wrist to his mouth, pressing his lips to his skin. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then he pulled back, frowning. "We're too alike. I can't affect you. I'm not sure I can feed from you."

"From me, then." Henry's words were low. "You must need it after everything you did at the base."

John closed his eyes for a moment, and Jacob could suddenly see the bone weariness underneath his smiling facade. "Badly," he murmured, then looked up to Jacob. "I won't hurt him," he said softly. "I need you to feel what I do. You'll need to be able to do it too, eventually. You were made from my blood, so I should have some degree of control over you. May I?"

Jacob nodded. "How?"

"Just relax and let me take control." He covered Jacob's hand with his own, then lifted Henry's wrist to his mouth.

Telekinesis, they'd called it at the base, and Jacob's first thought was that this was far, far more than that. He was drawn into John's awareness in a rush - an awareness of the world around them that went far beyond the meager, default senses of humanity. With this new awareness he became instantly, perfectly in tune with everything around them, feeling movement and energy and life: heat radiating from their bodies, from the tungsten lights in the room, the molecules in the air rising and falling as they became subject to the laws of conduction. John's awareness pulled his towards the bed underneath them - solid objects were quieter, but still held energy: the bonds between molecules that held them together.

Henry felt different entirely, warm and bright and completely alive, nearly singing with energy. Then John's awareness focused on his wrist, on the warmth of his skin and the throb of his pulse beneath it. Then he felt that awareness tighten, reaching out to manipulate the energy of those molecules, influencing them with a perfect, controlled gentleness until the bright throb of his blood burst free into his mouth.

Jacob's awareness snapped back so quickly that his vision swam. He gasped for breath, trying to steady himself, to focus on the two men in front of him.

Henry's body was tense, but he didn't seem to be in pain. His quickening breath, the flush on his cheeks and the way he unconsciously arched closer to John was completely in line with what Jacob had seen earlier, responding to being fed from with sensual arousal. John's fingers clenched around Jacob's, the hand that was holding Henry's white-knuckled and trembling, but Henry didn't seem to mind. Instead he curled into John with a soft, low groan, face resting against John's hair, his breath laboured.

It seemed too long, Jacob thought with a spike of panic. Was it too long? How much blood would he be losing through a wound that size? Jacob's mind reached for the calculations. Then he felt the draw of John's awareness again, pulling him in, making him experience how to close the break in Henry's vein and skin, to smooth the molecules back into place as they should be. 

John pressed a kiss to Henry's palm, looking up at him through his eyelashes. Then he turned back to Jacob. "Your turn, beautiful."

"Me?"

"To feed. I'll take you through it."

"But I don't - " even as he was speaking he felt a strange throb of desire to the contrary.

"You don't need to. Likely you'll be able to go weeks before you have a critical need for your first feed, if my own experience is any indication. But the two of you need to know how to take care of each other. I can't risk not teaching you as soon as possible." John patted the bed beside Henry. "Come sit closer. Let me guide you."

Jacob took Henry's hand when he offered it, rubbing his thumb against his wrist. Whole, with no sign of where John had fed. "Do you feel alright? It won't be too much?"

Henry nodded, tongue darting out to moisten his lips. "I'd like to feel that from you. I'll be fine."

"I won't let you hurt him." John laid a hand on his shoulder, his smile reassuring. "Trust me."

Letting John guide him was different this time, far different than just being pulled along for the ride. It was as if a master sculptor's hands were over his, strong and confident, pressing his fingers into clay, molding it to perfection. He could feel Henry's skin part at his command, responding to this strange new power and understanding he possessed. Then he pressed his mouth to his skin.

Instantly he was overcome with the most intense sensation of both yearning and fulfilment at the same time. The blood that filled his mouth was rich and sweet and hot and certainly nothing like what he would have expected, soothing a hunger inside him he hadn't realized was there. At the same time his body wanted more, ached to be closer, and there was no reason not to comply. 

Before he even realized that he'd moved he was straddling Henry's hips, moaning against his skin as Henry's free hand dug into his ass, pulling him closer. He pressed a kiss to Jacob's temple, breath hot against his skin, fingers kneading his ass. "God, Jacob....."

He could feel Henry's arousal, too - not a physical awareness like the molecules around them, but a definite, tangible presense nonetheless. Then, as he pressed closer, it blossomed into more: a deep affection and adoration towards him, a worry and uncertainty about their situation that was just as strong. Then, even more strangely, he could _see_ him. Flickers of memory danced through his mind, clear enough that he would have thought he'd experienced himself if they hadn't felt so specifically _Henry_. The anger Henry had felt when discovering Jacob had been taken. His desperation and determination as he turned himself, offered himself to John - anything to save Jacob.

His need for the other man surged, disorienting. Jacob moaned against his skin, squirming, a shudder of pleasure running through him from the friction against his half-hard cock, and Henry echoed it, grinding up against him.

"Enough," he heard John murmur, and felt the touch of his mind, controlling him again. Guiding him through closing the hole in his vein, his skin, leaving him whole and without blemish. 

Even without Henry's blood in his mouth Jacob could still feel his head spin, and he tried to wriggle closer, completely hard now, desperate for more sensation. Henry pulled his wrist from his grasp to cup his head with both hands, pulling him into a demanding kiss and groaning into his mouth as his hips jerked up against him. Jacob gave a soft cry at the flood of sensation, grinding against him a little more frantically, then reaching between them to tug at his pants.

"Wait." John's voice was soft and low, but carried just a hint of command. Immediately Jacob forced himself to lean back, breaking from the addiction of Henry's lips.

"I'm sorry," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "I - I don't know what's gotten into me, I - "

"It's all right. It's always like this." John's voice was soft and without reprimand. He closed his hand around one of Jacob's wrists and lifted it, eyes on Henry. "Follow me Henry. Let me teach you now."

The small part of Jacob's mind that could still think analytically couldn't help but find it strangely fascinating, watching the careful hole in his skin split open. Then Henry pressed his mouth to his wrist, and if he'd had thought feeding was intoxicating he quickly realized that this was even more so. His entire body ached to be close, to be touched, and along with the desire came the sensations again. Henry's warm, trembling adoration for him. Adoration and the most heartbreaking loneliness. Flickers of pain - being in shackles, being forced to endure unthinkable tests of endurance, strength, pain tolerance. The helpless, all consuming rage at those behind it. They'd pushed him until he'd broken, Jacob realized, his own heart aching. They'd broken him, and then cut him loose, with no purpose but to live out his days as their servant. A failure. Everything he'd endured had been for nothing.

Then, a flicker of light, of hope. Jacob. Trusting him completely, without judgement or guile. Offering himself....

He pressed his face against Henry's hair, curling closer, words spilling from his lips. "I won't let them hurt you again. I won't let anyone hurt you, not ever, I promise...."

Henry shuddered against him, fingers tightening around his arm, drawing hard with a soft whimper. Then he heard John's voice again. "Enough, enough. Make him whole again.

Jacob caught Henry's mouth as soon as it left his now-healed wrist, kissing him frantically, both hands tangled in his hair. Henry's mouth was intoxicating sweet, and Jacob found himself trying to lick up every remaining trace of his blood. He felt achingly, painfully hard, head spinning from the rush of feeding and craving more. "God, I need you so bad...."

"Fuck...." Henry's fingers dug into his hips, pulling him in as he rolled his hips up against him. "We can't - "

"Go ahead." John's murmur was soft and appreciative. "I'll go for a walk."

The thought of John leaving was suddenly unexpectedly jarring. "Stay." The command left Jacob's lips almost before he'd thought about it. Then he found himself looking into John Murdoch's curious gaze. But it couldn't be fair to push him away. Not when he'd fed, when he must feel the same way himself....

"Stay?" John repeated, lips quirking up into a small smile. Then, before he could question himself, Jacob had leaned in to kiss him.

He could feel a shiver of something as their lips connected - interest? From Henry? That question was quickly answered as he flicked his tongue against John's bottom lip, as Henry's fingers dug into his hips in a rush of arousal that mostly definitely come from him.

Jacob nipped at John's bottom lip before pulling back, giving Henry a smile. "Do you like that, lover?"

"If you're asking me if I want to go to bed with two of you unfairly beautiful things my answer is an absolute and resounding yes." Henry growled, smile unmistakably appreciative.

John laughed breathlessly, stroking a hand around Jacob's waist. "I certainly wouldn't mind engaging in a bit of mutual narcissism," he murmured, and claimed his mouth again, moaning low and appreciative as he tasted Jacob's mouth, hot and demanding and breathless.

Then he moved to nuzzle Henry's jaw, eyes still on Jacob. "Is this alright, too, beautiful Jacob?"

Jacob nodded without hesitation, finding it unexpectedly compelling to watch John claim a kiss, his lips parting against the lushness of Henry's with a low groan. It was certainly far more arousing than he would have expected, even taking the feeding into account. Not just the experience of _watching_ , but watching himself - this man who shared his DNA, beautiful and flushed and lost to pleasure.

He got the impression that he could feel John too, feel his interest and playful desire as he licked and sucked at Henry's lips. He stroked a hand down Jacob's chest, cupping his cock, squeezing and stroking slowly through his slacks with a low, appreciative moan.

"Oh god..." Jacob couldn't help but grind up into the touch, pressing John's hand against Henry's cock where it stretched at the front of his slacks. He found himself rubbing John's ass without thinking, then leaning in close to them, fitting into their kiss without a moment of awkward hesitance. The only thing that mattered was the way that this felt - the sweetness of Henry's mouth and John's, the sensation of licking against their tongues as their lips caressed each other.

John pulled away, watching as he flicked open the button of Jacob's slacks with remarkable ease. He freed Jacob's cock with a low groan, wrapping his fingers around the shaft, stroking slow and appreciative. "Mmm, yes...."

Jacob whimpered as John rubbed the pad of his thumb over The head of his cock, his jerking up into the stimulation. "God...."

"Perfect...." John leaned in to nuzzle his jaw, stroking him a little more firmly. "I think we all need to be a lot more naked, don't you?"

"Please," Henry murmured with another wave of desire, and Jacob couldn't imagine anything less.

Later he'd reflect that their clothes came off far too easily. But then the only thing that mattered was touching their skin, stretching out against Henry's side as John lay against the other. He wasn't quite sure who's hands were who's on his body as they all traded kisses with reckless abandon, as he curled his fingers around Henry's cock, then John's, stroking and teasing and rocking up into the fingers that curled around his aching erection.

It was bright and beautiful and decadent and still not nearly enough. Jacob found himself whimpering against John's mouth before he knew it, hips rocking a little more urgently into whoever's hand was around his cock. "Oh god, I can't... I need...."

"More," John murmured, nipping at his bottom lip. "Can I put my mouth on you, beautiful Jacob? Or should we both suck off your lovely Henry? I think he'd like that...."

"He wants to be fucked." Henry replied for him, low and appreciative, and Jacob felt his hand squeeze his ass.

"Oh yes. Either of you, both of you, please... but do we have...."

"I can make what we need," John purred, and kissed him again. Then he turned to kiss Henry, smiling against his mouth. "And what do you want, handsome? Should I swallow his cock while you make love to him? Or do you want to watch me fuck him?"

Jacob moaned as Henry's hand clenched on his ass again, rubbing, fingers pressing between his cheeks to rub against his hole. John moaned as well, and Jacob knew without looking that he was getting the same treatment. He laughed breathlessly against Henry's lips. "Or do you want to fuck both of us in turn?"

"Could I be in the middle?" Henry's eyes were dark, fingers pressing more firmly against his ass. Jacob watched John's eyes flick down to his ass, and suddenly Henry's fingers were slick, working into him in slow thrusts.

"I'd like that," John purred, leaning in to claim a kiss from Jacob. "Wanna see what you look like under him as he fucks you...."

"Good god." Was it the thought of it, or the thought of John watching? Henry's fingers twisted inside him, a pulse of pleasure neatly driving the question from his mind. "Oh god yes...."

John's whimper echoed his, squirming, grinding against Henry's hip. "If we don't do something soon I'm going to come on your fingers," he gasped laughingly, then pulled away.

Jacob found himself pressed back into the bed, Henry's fingers easing from him just long enough to urge his thighs apart and slide back into him - three, this time, slick and stroking. He cried out as they brushed up against his prostate, pleasure spiking through him. "Oh fuck, John's right... god, love. Fuck me...."

Beside him, John nuzzled his ear. "Let me show you the best trick ever," he murmured, and Jacob felt the control of his mind curl around him, guiding him again. This time it was more than just the awareness of matter; there was a greater control, a command for matter to form, molecules changing, rearranging themselves into a substance in Jacob's palm that he instantly _knew_ was lube. Of course it was, that's what he'd asked for. He laughed breathlessly as John's mind released his, curling his hand around Henry's cock and stroking the satin-slick liquid down his length.

"Fuck, tell me you'll teach me that too." Henry grinned as he rocked into Jacob's touch. Then he tugged Jacob's hand away, pushing his thighs up almost to his chest. He could feel John's eyes on him, feel his desire even through the pleasure of penetration, his body stretching around the girth of Henry's cock as he rocked into him.

"So beautiful...." John knelt up, eyes moving over them, dark and appreciative. He pressed a kiss to Henry's shoulder, stroking a hand down his back, and Jacob watched Henry's eyes fall closed with a moan.

John leaned in to steal a breathless kiss from Jacob's mouth before nuzzling Henry's ear. "Still want both of us, handsome?"

"Please," Henry gasped, and Jacob could feel a surge of pleasure from him as John started to press inside him, Henry's hips stuttering between them, eyes falling closed in pleasure.

For a brief moment of awkward gracelessness, Jacob was afraid that it wouldn't work. Then John nipped at Henry's shoulder, pressing closer. "Let me," he murmured, giving a harder thrust, then pulling Henry back with him, taking control of the force and depth of his thrusts.

"Jesus Christ - !" Henry dropped his head to Jacob's shoulder, letting John take complete control, crying out as each thrust pushed him harder into Jacob. Jacob couldn't help but echo his cries at each rush of sensation. Seeing his lover obviously overwhelmed by pleasure was nearly as fulfilling as what he felt himself, as watching John's green eyes hold his, dark and pleased. John mouthed breathless kisses along Henry's shoulder as his hips snapped into him, leaning close enough to just claim Jacob's mouth in a breathless kiss.

Henry shuddered against him, gasping. "Oh god - so good, I can't.... fuck....!"

John nipped at his ear, voice low. "Don't hold back, handsome. Wanna feel you come inside him. Wanna fuck him afterwards and feel your come inside him, I want - "

"Oh - !" Henry jerked tense between them, clearly liking the idea as much as Jacob liked it himself. His hips stuttered into him, grinding deep through John's harder thrusts, his cry broken and beautifully helpless as he spilled inside him.

"I won't hold you up," he gasped, pushing John back, pressing a breathless, smiling kiss to Jacob's lips before pulling away. The loss of his cock was almost unbearable, but John was on him again almost immediately, letting Jacob pull him into his kisses, sliding deep into him in a few hard thrusts.

"So good," John gasped, immediately setting an urgent pace. "God, Jacob, you feel so... god, so beautiful - "

It was strange and most definitely perverse to watch him, Jacob couldn't help but think, but he couldn't look away. Beautiful, he couldn't help but think in agreement, and while he'd been told as much by all his lovers there was something uniquely arousing at being able to see it, to see John flushed and lost to pleasure, barely clinging to control as the thick length of his cock pounded into him again and again.

"Harder," he gasped, pulling his thighs higher, crying out as John's hips smacked into his ass. He dug his heels into his back, urging more.

John's lips dropped to his neck, breath ragged and hard. His fingers dug into Jacob's shoulders as he rutted into him, pounding into him with almost punishing force. "God, Jacob - gonna make me come so hard - "

The declaration, the added proof of his twin's pleasure proved the last straw, pleasure overwhelming him completely. He bucked up against John as much as he could, grinding up onto his cock as waves of pleasure wracked his body, and as John followed him Jacob found that all he could do was laugh, breathless and joyful and entirely fulfilled.

He pulled Henry into a lingering kiss once he could breathe again, nerves buzzing with well-being in the aftermath of pleasure, reveling in the soft feelings of adoration and appreciation he could feel from the other man.

John pressed a kiss to his shoulder, then Henry's cheek, humming appreciatively before pulling away. "That was exactly what I needed," he purred, flopping down on the bed next to Jacob and stretching languidly. "Now... shall we figure out how to get ourselves out of harm's way?"

Jacob let out a long breath, thinking back to Jack with a shiver of worry and guilt. "Yeah. But first there's someone I need to get in contact with.

~~~


	10. Chapter 10

It was all going to take some getting used to, Jacob couldn't help but think as he watched John Murdoch _create_ , awareness pulled along for the ride as new clothes for each of them came into existence out of thin air. Nondescript jeans, shirts, hats. He was a little disappointed to see Henry's ginger locks shoved under a hat, but it was certainly preferable to his lover's suggested alternative of shaving his head.

"Should probably change the car, too," John mused, and Henry looked over sharply, eyebrows knit.

"Again?"

"What?"

Henry stepped past him to open the motel room door, pointing out into the parking lot. "Didn't you do it already? It wasn't like that when we left."

"You're right, it wasn't." John shrugged, "Probably you, then."

"What?"

"Well, Jacob was out cold, and I certainly couldn't have tuned a fly at that point. It's not surprising. The abilities have a tendency to manifest subconsciously when really needed."

Jacob touched his arm. "We... can't hurt anyone, can we? Unintentionally?"

"Not seriously, no." John's voice was gentle. Reassuring. "Think about how it feels to access these abilities. The most instinctual reaction is to just _push_ or _pull_. It takes significant more concentration to disrupt or create." He smiled as his attention turned back to Henry. "For that to manifest subconsciously Henry must have been very worried about protecting you."

"Us," Jacob corrected, though he felt a flicker of shy adoration from Henry, and smiled.

Henry looked out at the car again. "I think we should still change it again, if you're up for it. I don't know when it happened, it could have been picked up on satellite or some some surveillance camera - "

"Satellite?"

"Overhead. Orbiting high tech cameras. We're probably all right here - the shade over the car-park should obscure things - but I'm not sure what kind of security systems they might have...."

"Well, let's take a look, then." John reached past him to pull the door closed again, then leaned back against it. "Come with me, I'll show you."

Jacob was beginning to find it easier to release himself to John's control, to accept whatever was happening and just go along for the ride. But this time he found John pulling his awareness in several directions at once, and he felt himself straining to keep up, briefly panicking.

"It's alright," John murmured, lessening the control. "We can do this easily. But you need to stop thinking about it like vision. If anything, think of it like hearing."

Jacob considered his words. "Like a full 360 degree awareness of every source of sound."

"Yes. Passive awareness, until you chose to Tune into a single source." John chuckled, self indulgently amused, though Jacob wasn't quite sure why. Then he felt the flicker of his mind again. "Come with me, let's do this again."

The second time was easier, John's explanation allowing his mind to more easily let go of ingrained patterns of thought and observance. It would certainly take practice to master, but he could start to get a feel for it, for how John's awareness expanded out beyond them, zeroing in on tiny points that meant _camera_ , dealing with them one by one. Then it was done, and John smiled at them.

"I know it's a lot to take in. But considering our situation, I think it's best if I give you as much exposure as possible when we have the opportunity. We can't let your government get hold of any of us again."

Henry nodded, opening the door again. "I think that's a point we can all agree on."

They set out in the car - now a copy of a dark silver, older model mini-van that had been in the motel parking lot - driving until they found a 24 hour Walgreens. John was mostly silent throughout the trip, perched in the back seat, taking in the city around them.

"Wish we could just _make_ a burner phone," Henry muttered as they turned into the parking lot.

"I think that replicating programming might prove problematic," Jacob mused. 

He glanced back to find that John's shirt had changed into a baggy Hawaiian with palm leaves on it. He tugged a ballcap with the Las Vegas sign on it over his hair and grinned. "We'll be back in a moment."

"Just don't get caught on camera," Jacob warned, unnecessarily, reassured by John's wink as he got out of the car.

Soon he was holding a cheap flip phone in his hand, dialing a number that he'd always know by heart.

"Hello?"

His handler's familiar voice sent an unexpected wave of relief through him. "Rachel. It's me."

"Hood! Oh my god, are you okay? Where are you? We'll come get you right away, the director's made every resource available - "

"I can't tell you that, I'm afraid. They've most definitely tapped your phone."

"The Air force? Look, none of us believe you had anything to do with the situation today, it would be completely impossible. Just tell me how to find you. I won't let the air force take you again - "

"I'm not sure they'd give you a choice. Rachel, I need you to trust me. I can't come in, it's too dangerous. Please listen carefully, I only have a moment. That time when the FBI breached that special clause in my contract? I need that to happen again. I need you to arrange it. I'll call you back."

He clicked off the phone, then handed it to Henry, who deftly popped out the sim card. His eyes narrowed slightly in concentration, and the card suddenly disappeared into a tiny puff of dust.

"Well done!" John grinned, delighted. "Now we wait, yes? How long will it take for her to contact your friend?"

"Not sure. But I'll call again in a few hours."

Henry looked over at him, worried. "You sure she'll know what you were talking about?"

"Yes. Rachel's one of the most resourceful, street-smart people I've ever met. I'm completely confident she'll pull through for us."

"And she'll connect us with Bauer? She won't bring in the FBI?"

There's been a time, when they'd first met, when Rachel has been completely by the book. But that was long ago. He placed a hand on Henry's arm to reassure him. "Rachel is my dearest friend. There's no one in the world I trust more."

"Good." John leaned forward, resting one arm on the shoulder of Jacob's seat. "What did it mean, anyway?"

Glancing away, Jacob chuckled softly, feeling his cheeks heat. "My agreement with the FBI was under a condition that I always be supplied with a female agent as my primary handler. Which really has little to do with wanting beautiful women around me and more that I tend to find a handsome man in a suit incredibly distracting. It's too much of a liability. Working with Jack was unavoidable due to an issue of national security. But we managed to work through it."

It was hard not to think back on how 'managing to work through it' had started with a terse, embarrassing conversation, then progressed into being shoved up against the wall and kissed until he couldn't think straight. He allowed himself to briefly, indulgently remember how frantically satisfying it had been to go down on his knees and swallow the thick girth of Jack Bauer's cock, then firmly pushed away the pleasant memory.

Behind him, John gave a low, interesting sounding noise. Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice. "You know, if we have a few hours to kill we might as well go back to the hotel...."

Henry threw the van back into drive, glancing over briefly with an appreciative smirk. "Might as well."

~~~

 

Even though Daniel had assured him that everyone on the base was well and truly asleep, Jack approached the base with as much wariness as he would in any infiltration. It was disconcerting not having Chloe in his ear, but with all the cameras still out she wouldn't have been able to provide any guidance. Instead, David flew over head, voice a low purr in his ear. "No sign of movement but you, handsome. Everyone I can see is down for the count. Can I join you already?"

"Just keep watching," Jack growled, slipping past the broken gate and into the base.

It was easy to keep to the shadows when the base was almost entirely dark; the moon, just past the horizon, provided enough of a glow to pick his way securely across the asphalt. He gave a slumbering soldier a wide bearth, the beam from his fallen flashlight just catching the bottoms of his shoes.

Ahead of him, he could see a number of large trucks parked outside what must be the main building of the base, one of them still humming, holding a bank of floodlights that were pointed at the building. He ignored it for the time being, carefully checking the outbuildings in the vicinity, then the trucks themselves. Finally he stopped and let himself take a good look at the building.

The building in front of them was cracked open, as if some giant hand had reached down and pulled it into two pieces. Jack stayed alert as he approached, stepping around dozens of slumbering soldiers and contractors. Looking down into the building he finding each floor similarly rent, a chasm bracketed with crumbling concrete and sparked wiring leading down a seemingly endless number of floors. 

Nothing natural could have caused this. "Jesus Christ."

"What? You find him?"

"No. But the area's clear. Bring them in." 

David alighted on the ground next to him a few seconds later, and in the distance came the fast approaching hum of his bike. They'd left the truck far beyond the gate and ready for a quick escape - too unwieldy to bring into the base when they weren't sure what they would find. 

"Jack." David touched his arm in warning, and he whirled at the hint of movement to the side, only to find three young men and a boy alighting on the ground. The leader wore a short leather jacket, dark hair falling in waves around his face. He looked Jack over slowly, blue eyes narrowing slightly, then stepped close to David, arms slipping around his waist as he claimed his mouth in a warm kiss.

"Michael." David's tone was warm and affectionate, but the leadership, ownership that he exerted over the group was obvious in his tone and body language. "Jack, this is Michael, my mate. My boys, Paul, Marco and Laddie. Dwayne is on the bike with Daniel. Boys, this is Jack, he's to be protected." 

The bike pulled up as he was speaking, a tall, dark-haired man helping Daniel off the back before dismounting himself.

Jack stepped up to them. "This is why they're calling it a weapon, isn't it? He did this?"

Daniel's lips pinched together as he regarded the building. "It's not like him to leave things undone like this, if this was him." Then, stepping over the rubble in a way that made him seem almost weightless, he disappeared inside before Jack could say another word.

David moved towards the rent as well. "We can debate things later. Boys, we're looking for any trace of the spaceman's boyfriend. You know what he smells like. Split up and search the compound. Dwyane, take Laddie and look over the buildings outside. Paul, stay with Jack and watch for trouble. Michael and Marco, come with me." He disappeared into the building with the others following.

The one David had called Paul sprang up to the top of the two story building effortlessly, crouching on the lip of the roof, surveying the scene. Jack moved out of the range of the floodlights, moving slow until his eyes readjusted to the darkness. Despite Daniel's assurances that everyone in the base would remain asleep as long as they were under his control, he couldn't allow himself to relax. Too many potential combatants, too much at stake.

He continued a slow patrol around the trucks until he finally saw movement from inside the building. Daniel half stumbled as he landed beside Jack, looking pale and troubled, followed by David and the others. "He's not here," he said simply, then pulled an empty vial from the breast pocket of the flack jacket Jack had insisted he wear. "He was, though. This was my own blood. There were many samples of his, though they've all been destroyed. He left in a hurry, from the state of the building... or didn't have the energy to put it back together." He gave his head a little shake, looking more worried. "It's not like him."

"David!" The smallest boy appeared around the corner of the building, approaching at a run and followed a little more sedately by the dark haired vampire. He stopped when he reached David, thrusting a plain leather wallet at him triumphantly. "We found some stuff! Not him, I mean, but there's a couple of rooms in the houses that smell like him!"

David nodded. "There was another lab in the building that had clothes, but no ID." He opened the wallet, pulling out the driver's license. He for a moment he didn't move. Then he glanced to Jack. "The man your friend mentioned. Doctor _Jacob_ Hood?"

"What?" Jack snatched the card from him before Daniel could move, staring at it. "Yes. That's him. He's a special advisor to the FBI."

Daniel stepped closer to look over his shoulder, letting out a long breath. "... are you certain?"

Jack's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes. I know him quite well."

"Then he shares the same thing with John than you and I do."

Jack tucked the ID back in the wallet and pocketed it grimly. "That's why he was here, then. Because of your friend." He waved a hand at the destruction. "Hard to believe he'd willingly have a part in this, though."

Daniel gave a soft laugh, voice low and bitter. "If this world's government would treat a man who'd fallen from the sky as a chance to experiment for their own gains, why would they treat one of their own any better?"

"They're not here, so we assume they're together," David said, looking to Jack. "Can your friend track - shit!" He stepped into Daniel as the other man started to sway, pale skin going noticeably gray. "Hey! Keep it together, doc!"

"I can't," Daniel managed to say, an obvious grimace of pain crossing his expression. "I need...."

"We need to get out of here." Jack started to pull him to towards the bike, mounting while David manhandled Daniel on behind him. "Meet you at the truck?"

David nodded. "We'll keep an eye on things from above. Go."

Daniel sagged heavy against his back as Jack kick started the bike, and he clamped his upper arms to where Daniel's wrapped around his waist, determined to hold him in place no matter what, speeding away from the base.

The bike's headlight caught the glint of eyes in the back of the truck as they approached, further illuminating the area just as David pulled the door down on his boys in the back. Moments later the truck started, and when Jack braked beside it Michael hopped out of the cab. "Get in, we'll get him up there and ride rear guard."

"I'm sorry," he heard Daniel struggle to say as David settled him in the passenger's seat. "I didn't realize it would take so much...."

"Hush. You'll be fine. Just keep them off our backs until we're out of here. Okay?" He closed the door, and Jack floored the gas, trusting the other two to keep up.

Jack forced himself to wait until they hit the highway to turn on his phone, hoping the ping to the nearby cell phone towers wouldn't be too obvious. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road at this hour of the morning; just the . Beside him, Daniel slumped silently against the window. No way to tell if he was conscious. He'd have to hope for the best.

"Jack, please tell me the Air Force isn't after you."

"Think we might have gotten away clean," Jack replied to the voice on his earpiece, hoping he was telling the truth. "Need some place to lay low for the day, though, sooner rather than later. I'm on the I-95 south. Can you hook us up?"

"I can do better than that. If you were actually paying me for this shit you'd owe me a hell of a bonus, Jack. I managed to get access to a Russian satellite that was in range during the event this afternoon. One car left the base. I've tracked it as far as Vegas."

"Then that's where we'll go. Find us some place where no-one will ask questions, will you? I'll call you when we get there, we can re-group."

"On it." On the other end of the line, Chloe paused. "You sure you want to keep tracking them, Jack? Tony's expecting you."

"I have to." Pulling out was out of the question now. Not with Dr. Hood involved. There was no question now as to his involvement; knowing Jacob as well as he did, Jack was certain he'd be completely unable to turn his back on a man who both shared his face and needed his help. "I owe it to Jacob."

~~~


	11. Chapter 11

It was good to be on his bike again as they drove the dark highways of Nevada, Michael behind him, the rest of his boys in the truck. Though Michael had helped without question at the base, he'd been unusually quiet. David turned his face back towards him and called out to him over the wind. "You alright, my love?"

For a long moment Michael was silent, focused on the road. "I'm fine. Just ready for this to be over." David heard him give a low, frustrate growl. "Why is this your business, anyway? You brought buddy to Jack, let the humans figure out their own shit!"

"He's not human," David called back. "He's one of us, or close enough. So it's in our best interest to keep him away from the human government." He glanced ahead at the hint of light on the horizon, wondering where they were in relation to their destination. They'd passed a few truck stops and stopped once to refuel, but the farther away from that base they could be, the better he'd feel about it.

He could sense that Michael was still unhappy, but said nothing, riding on in the darkness. The lights in the distance got brighter as they grew closer, an orange glow over the craggy horizon of the desert. Finally they passed the city limits, moving into the suburbs and finally pulling up to a nondescript little one-story house.

"Chloe says the owners are Canadian snowbirds," Jack said, voice low as he made his way along the truck to them. "She cracked the security code for us. Let's get Daniel inside."

Michael had already pulled the truck open, and David looked over the boys as they exited. "Standard rules apply regardless of how far we are from home. We've got a few hours before sunrise, so if anyone needs a bite you can head off as long as you're not alone. But come in and make sure we've got a safe place to sleep first."

Ahead of him, Daniel nearly tumbled from the cab as Jack opened the door. Jack gave a grunt of concern as he caught him, deftly helping him down. David moved to support his other side. "Tell me what you need, doc."

"It's just been a long day," he murmured, barely able to put one foot in front of the other as they half-carried him towards the front door. "I - I will be all right when we find John...."

"You need food, or tie not gonna last that long," David stated. "You sure a human won't do it?"

Daniel gave a soft, helpless laugh, letting them lift him up the front steps without protest. "Not unless I make them into what I am. I can't chance that."

"So what about one of us?" David held Daniel upright against the wall as Jack keyed in the code to open the door. He ignored the boys as they disappeared into the house, knowing that they could take care of securing a daytime sanctuary without his help. He focused his attention on Daniel, who hadn't replied, a slight flush to his cheeks. "It would work for you, wouldn't it? You're a halfer, you need vampire blood."

"You smell like... sage," Daniel murmured, and David took it as confirmation that he was right.

He leaned in to rest his lips against Daniel's temple, keeping his voice soft and low. "Let's get you inside, all right? Get you something to eat."

"I can't - David, there's no knowing what it might do to me, and I - I... "

"You have to," he urged softly, taking him in though the open door in front of him, Jack and Michael following. "You need to feed if you're going to find your John. I'm going to feed you."

Daniel shuddered in his embrace, turning his face away, his voice a bare murmur. "David, I - it's intimate...."

"I know." He kept his voice low and calm, pressing a soft kiss to Daniel's temple before glancing back at the others. "Give me a while. I'll be fine, just keep an eye on the boys. And please try not to kill each other...."

"David...." Michael stepped closer, but stopped at a warning glare.

"I'll be fine, Michael," he repeated again, voice still calm. Then he took Daniel into what proved to be one of the bedrooms, locking the door behind him.

Daniel all but collapsed onto the bed when David released him, his legs giving out, form trembling. Still he tried to push back when David knelt over him, helping him back to stretch out on the bed. "David, don't..."

"Stop protesting and let me give you what you need." He kept his voice gentle despite the firm words, soft and coaxing, like Daniel was a mark that he planned to feed from rather than the other way around. He trapped the other man beneath him by laying half over him, one thigh pressed between both of his to try and urge the other man to take what he needed, but Daniel closed his eyes and turned his head away, breath coming in soft, panicked pants. His hands clenched at David's jacket, trembling, trying unsuccessfully to push him away.

"Please don't...." His voice was so small, and so frightened, and all David could do was sigh, holding him close and stroking his arm in what he hoped was a comforting fashion.

"It's all right. You know you need this. Your mate is alive, and he needs you. He'd want you to be healthy and strong. You know that, right?"

"I've never fed from anyone else." The words came in a rush, and David could smell the fear and panic on the other man. "The Strangers had no emotion, so when they fed me, I felt - I felt nothing. It's only been John...."

"Shhh..." David pressed his lips to his forehead, feeling the other man tremble beneath him. "I won't hurt you. I promise. I'll take care of you. Just let me do this, please. Let me help you."

Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, anguished, and drew a shivering breath. "All right."

David pulled back long enough to shrug out of his trench coat and pull his shirt over his head. A flick of his fingers was all it took to unsheath the blade in his ring, and he pressed close again as he brought the sharp metal to his throat, slicing deep into his own skin. Daniel drew a soft hiss and moved with surprising speed, catching his shoulders and clenching at them as he sealed his mouth over the wound, drawing on it hungrily.

At the touch of Daniel's mouth, David suddenly understood why he'd been so afraid, so hesitant. This was different, very different from feeding from a human or even letting Michael pull from him - what he felt now from Daniel was so much more than just Vampiric desire. He could feel clearly the turmoil of emotion inside him, the anxiety, the deep rooted fear of never finding his lover again. The images came after that; a tall, beautiful man with dark curls and green eyes, smiling, embracing him. John Murdoch. That same man fighting against dozens of strange, pale bald men in black, the city around them warping and crumbling in some kind of nightmarish spectacle that hardly seemed real.

He felt Daniel's pride as the dark haired man won, put the city right, felt his loneliness when the man disappeared. He saw Daniel ready to sacrifice himself, to drain himself completely to leave his blood to ensure John's continued existence. Then finally the memory of the first taste of this beautiful man's blood, the realization that they could survive together, the intimacy and desire of their give and take, making love... it was almost overwhelming, and David could suddenly understand what had driven this man to come all this way, to risk everything in the attempt to find his lover.

Daniel pulled from his skin with a gasp, and David felt a warmth smooth over the wound, tingling, leaving behind no pain. He'd pulled Daniel closer without even thinking about it, his hands clenched at the other man's ass, his body hard and aching from the the flood of desire that came with the blood exchange and the intimacy of Daniel's memories. Daniel was in a similar state, erection hard against David's thigh, his fingers tangled in his hair. His lips pressed to David's without hesitation, warm and trembling and needy, gasping for breath between kisses. David welcomed the opportunity to claim his mouth, tongue lathing against Daniel's, tasting his own blood and an underlying sweetness that was strange and intoxicating.

He tugged at the buttons of Daniel's vest and dress shirt, craving his warmth, craving anything that could extend the strange intimacy they'd felt. Daniel's hands pushed between them to tug open his jeans in return, slipping a hand inside his shorts to curl around his cock, his voice thick with desire, though trembling. "Thank you, David. You may fuck me, if you'd like...."

"Shh..." David shifted just enough to push Daniel's shirt and vest off his shoulders along with his coat, running his hands over the bare skin and leaning down to nuzzle his throat. "I told you'd I'd take care of you. Just relax." He drew his tongue up Daniel's throat, tasting that same sweetness, pulling back hard on the urge to feed from him, the craving to taste him in return. But the way Daniel shuddered and arched against him was too much to take, his hips rocking up against him helplessly, hands clenching hard in his hair as he urged him closer.

"Please." Daniel's fingers bit into his back, body trembling. "Do it."

The desire to taste him was purely sexual; David didn't need to feed. But he let the blade whisper over Daniel's throat, slicing easily into the soft skin and following the line with his tongue. The mix of mortal and immortal in him was intoxicating, a shudder of heat and desire that surged through him, making him harder. Daniel was still tugging at his jeans, pulling them down slender hips, and David licked the shallow wound on his throat closed before moving to help him, pulling the rest of Daniel's clothes off as he kissed hungrily over his throat and along his jaw.

"David - !" Daniel's words caught in his throat as David's fingers closed around his cock, bucking up into his fist, trembling, his breath in short gasps that were almost sobs. "Oh god, David!"

"Shh...." Something about the fear and neediness made David feel strangely protective, and he let his fingers stroke slowly up and down the length of the other man's straining shaft, pausing to let his thumb circle the head of his cock, sliding through his arousal and slicking it up and down his length. "Shh, _liebling_ ," he murmured, his mind reverting to an old tongue with the knowledge that this man would somehow understand. " _Don't think, just let go._ "

Daniel pressed his face to his neck with a choked groan, not resisting as David pressed him onto his back, tugging his hand from between them and pinning him to the bed with the weight of his body. The press of his hips against Daniel's was almost maddening, and he thrust hard against him, caught in the pleasure of Daniel's cock sliding against his own, rubbing against his stomach, the willing warmth of his body. Daniel's thighs wrapped tight around his hips, bucking up against him and encouraging more, fingers digging into his back almost painfully hard. The power and intoxication of the blood only made everything stronger, and before long he was rutting against Daniel almost frantically, gasping against his hair.

" _Come on, liebling. Come for me, please,_ oh, fuck!" The words spilled from David's mouth, pleading, almost desperate as the pleasure built, hot and trembling in the pit of his stomach, shuddering closer to completion with each buck of his hips. Daniel's reply was a broken, throaty cry of pleasure, and David felt him buck up against him, tense and shuddering as he spilled between them, slick and hot on David's stomach and his own. The sensation was too much for David, and all he could do was thrust hard against Daniel's come-slick skin, the sensation pulling him over the edge as well. He bit down hard at Daniel's shoulder without breaking skin, shuddering through the white hot bliss of orgasm, the hunger and ache finally, gradually fading.

For a long moment Daniel was silent, even when David pulled away, curling up around him with his face pressed to his hair. David let his fingers stroke the man's hip slowly, content to revel in the pleasant afterglow of sex.

"Feeling better?" he asked finally, nuzzling his temple.

"I think so," Daniel replied, curling a little closer to him. "Thank you for this."

"Thank you," he echoed softly, pressing a kiss to his temple and feeling content to lay like that for a time. "You speak German."

"I do," Daniel agreed, voice still relaxed. "I can only assume it is from my life before the City. The Strangers took my memories, you see. So the only life I know is my time with them... and my time with John." He drew back a little to look at him. "You saw, didn't you? What he means to me?"

David nodded slowly. "I didn't mean to intrude. I've never experienced anything like that...."

"The beings that made me shared one collective mind... one set of memories. So it seems that their blood allows me to do the same at will. When I'm with John... I can feel him, everything he feels... I couldn't help but love him. I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't find him."

"We'll find him," David murmured, pressing a kiss to his temple. "Jack's taken us this far. Everything will be fine."

Daniel nodded slowly, contemplating this. "Jack isn't entirely human, is he?" Despite the inquiry, his voice was soft and non accusing.

"Human enough," David replied. "I gave him a single drop of my blood a few years ago. Not enough to turn him. Just to protect him."

"Because you love him."

David was silent for a long moment. "Jack is human, mortal. Fleeting. And he's far too different to be part of my world, to ever be what I am. Michael completes me. He changed my whole world, he's... he's what I need to keep going. You need things like that, when you've been around as long as I have. Ties. A family. I love him more than I ever thought possible."

"I understand that. He's your mate." Daniel's voice remained gentle, blue eyes watching him through sex-smudged lenses. "But you do love Jack."

He gave a soft sigh, not moving, and for the first time wondered what Jack would think about what they'd just done. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do."

~~~~

"Well." Jack's voice was almost emotionless as he stared at the door to the bedroom David had disappeared into with Daniel. He glanced over at Michael, who was still frowning.

"Sometimes I really hate that he's in charge," Michael remarked, half turning to Jack and folding his arms across his chest.

Jack watched him carefully. "I take it this happens often?"

"No," Michael replied, letting out a breath in a long-suffering sigh. "Well, yes, but it's not... it's a bit hard to explain. We fuck most of our prey, but this is different. You're different, he feels something for you, and that's hard for me when he generally looks at humans like so much cattle." His generous lips pursed a little more in thought, and he gave a little shake of his head. "David says that as I get older things like this change, that I'll feel differently, but... right now I kind of dislike you."

"That feels like a bit of an understatement," Jack replied carefully, to which Michael gave a short laugh.

"All right, I completely despise you." Michael's voice was strangely calm despite the vitriol of his words. "I hate that he cares for you, I hate that he's given - that he protects you, and I really wish he'd move on to his next obsession. I don't suppose you want to put an end to this, do you?"

"I'm not sure he'd let me if I tried," Jack replied carefully. He inclined his head towards the door. "That's not serious, you know."

"I know," Michael replied, still frowning. "It's just something new and interesting for him. Some grand adventure to take his boys on." He snorted and shook his head.

"If it bothers you that much," Jack started carefully, "perhaps you should talk to him about it."

Michael glanced back to him, then shook his head. "I can't deny him what makes him happy. Somehow I love the bastard too much. I just wanted to set things straight with you. I don't like you."

"Fair enough." Jack gave a little nod before turning for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Going to grab my gear from truck and set up in the other room, figure it's a better option than staying here and listening to them fuck." He stopped in the doorway and glanced back at Michael. "Coming?"

Michael glanced to the bedroom door, then back to Jack. "Yeah," he decided, and fell into step behind him.

~~~~


	12. Chapter 12

"Rachel. Please tell me you have something for me."

On the other end of the line, Rachel signed. "I do, but it's not what you want. The person you're looking for went to ground, and let me tell you I got some very interesting phone calls when I started looking into him. I couldn't contact him. I'm sorry."

Jacob's heart sank. The good news was that if Jack was in the wind, hopefully he'd be able to keep himself that way. Away from the attention of the Air Force and whatever other branches of the government would inevitably get involved with a prize like John's abilities on the line. But he had rather hoped that Jack could help them get out of the country.... "It's all right, Rachel. Thank you."

"Jacob, listen. You're right about the Air Force monitoring me, they came to me with an offer. They asked me to tell you that if you turn you and Patient Zero in they won't hold Henry accountable, and they're willing to make allowances to let him consult on your care. They'll let you have an active part in exploring your condition, whatever that means, they - "

For a brief moment he was tempted. But they'd certainly test Henry and discover what he was. And what about John? "I'm sorry, Rachel. I appreciate the message. And all the care you've given me. If I never see you again - "

"Hood, don't say that - "

"I need to. Thank you for your friendship. It's truly meant the world to me. Please don't worry about me, alright?"

"How can I not? Jacob, please...."

"Take care, Rachel," he said, and clicked off, destroying the second sim card.

John looked up from where he'd been seated on the side of the bed, walking Henry through careful reproduction of some of his little blue pills. "We're on our own, then?"

Jacob's lips pursed as he sat down with them. He connected to the hotel WiFi. "There's one more thing I can try," he murmured, navigating through the internet and signing up for a new email address.

John placed a hand on his knee. "I need to go home, Jacob. Preferably tonight. I can't leave Daniel for much longer. You're both welcome to come with me, of course. I may need to ask for your assistance getting back either way. But I can't stay here."

Go with him? Jacob's eyes flicked to Henry to find the same questioning look on his lover's face. "There's certainly not much for us here," Henry murmured. "And it's quite possible that the government will never stop looking for us...."

Jacob nodded slowly. "I'll think about it," he replied. Then he set about composing a carefully worded email to an account he hadn't reached out to in some time, hoping that somehow, Jack would still receive it and answer him.

~~~

 

"How are you feeling?"

Daniel gave Jack a tired smile as he made his way into the kitchen. He eyed the pot of coffee on the coffee maker - a bit stale, Jack thought, though it did the job - and filled the electric kettle and set it to boil. Then he started to quietly search the cupboards around it. "David has given me a temporary reprieve. But it unfortunately has not had much of a restorative effect on my abilities." He finally located and took down a box of tea and a mug.

Jack nodded slowly. "What's the contingency plan, then? What do I do next time you pass out on me?"

For a long moment Daniel stared down at the mug. "I don't know," he said finally, and Jack couldn't help but think that for the first time, he seemed genuinely frightened. "Perhaps I should take my leave of you all."

Jack snorted. "You wouldn't get far. You're not that stupid."

Daniel's lips pursed, and he shook his head. "I'm not going to get much farther anyway. But I've asked too much of you already."

"It's fine - "

"It's not fine, Jack. I guaranteed your safety at the base and I barely held it together." His hands shook as he lifted the teapot, pouring the steaming water into the mug, head lowered, giving a sniffle.

Sighing, Jack took off his headset and pushed back from the dining room table, joining him, a hand on his back. "Hey. Listen. I'm not giving up and I'm not letting you give up. Now, Chloe and I have been going through security footage for different hotels and motels in the area around the time they got in, but we haven't been able to find anything. You know your mate. Can you tell me anything that would help us narrow things down? This is a big city."

Daniel let out a long breath, still staring down at the darkening cup of tea. "I don't...." he started, then stopped, silent for a moment.

Jack was silent, giving him the time to think. Daniel turned his eyes to him a few moments later. "At the base, I noticed something curious. There didn't appear to be any kind of electrical wiring in the building connecting the light fixtures and power sockets. I think it might have been John. A single item that he could target throughout the base that would have rendered them quite helpless."

Jack nodded slowly. "Would explain why they went completely silent. Would he do it again?"

"Not on that scale, not if there wasn't any other alternative. But perhaps the search should not be for cameras, but for a sudden lack of cameras?"

"Got it." Jack moved back to the table, pulling on the headset and relaying his thoughts to Chloe. He didn't look up as Daniel joined him, but a few moments later he heard the other man set the mug down hard, doubling over with a soft gasp of pain. "Daniel?"

Daniel managed a small shake of his head, curling more into himself, breath in soft, pained gasps. "I'm sorry," he managed after a moment. "Please disregard, I..."

"You said you didn't know what David's blood would do to you," Jack repeated, concerned, and Daniel shook his head.

"Not this," he gasped, and seemed to gather himself together, forcing his breath to slow. He swallowed hard. "Please don't worry. This is a normal reaction. I'll have a few more days at least. Though I'm not certain I'll be very useful."

"Then you need to start thinking about turning someone else." Jack placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you have much of a choice at this point."

Daniel gave a soft, helpless laugh. "Who? Who could I trust with these abilities, Jack? And how could I do it, knowing that it would make them a target for your government?"

Jack sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose against the headache that was starting to form. He'd caught precious little sleep in the past twenty-four hours, and it was starting to catch up.

"I'll keep looking," he muttered, and turned back to his laptop.

Then, as he was about to call Chloe, a hit came up on the protocols that monitored the plethora of emails, forums and social media inboxes he used for clandestine communications. As his eyes scanned the message, his pulse started to race.

Jacob.

~~~

 

John watched Jacob dial the phone again with more than a little trepidation. Despite Jacob's assurances, could they really know that the man he'd been trying to contact would help them?

He should have left as soon as he'd regained the strength to do so. This world was too dangerous. Too many unknowns, too much opportunity for those terrible men to recapture them. But he couldn't leave Jacob and Henry to fend for themselves, not when they'd sacrificed so much to help him. And while he could hope that, for their own safety, they'd agree to leave with him, he certainly couldn't force that decision....

"Jack." Jacob uttered the name like a sob of relief. "Thank god. Thank you. I'm so sorry to reach out, but we're in a hell of a bind. I - " then he stopped, eyebrows knitting together, voice lowering. " _How do you know about John?_ "

Then his lips parted, and his next words made John's blood run cold.

"Daniel's here? With you?"

He moved to Jacob's side immediately. "Daniel? My Daniel? How's Daniel with him, how - "

In response, Jacob handed him the phone. On the other end he heard a voice that, though soft and exhausted, he still knew better than his own. "...John?"

"Oh my god. How are you here? Why the hell are you here? You're supposed to be home, you're supposed to be _safe_ \- "

"I'm sorry." Daniel's voice quivered on the words, and he gave a soft sob. "I thought you weren't coming back, John. I couldn't - "

"And we had a plan for that. I'm expendable. You're not. We had that list of possible heirs -"

"I couldn't do it." Another soft sob. "I'm so sorry, John. I couldn't."

"But you left the city unprotected!"

"I know. I know it was selfish of me, I'm so sorry. But I - you're not expendable, John. The thought of being without you...."

The helplessness in his love's voice made John's heart ache. "Shh. Shh, it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be angry. I just... Daniel, this world is terrifying, this is the last place I want you to be. God, at least under the Strangers we knew who was against us. There's no way we can bring the city back here, not with the world like this."

"I know. I saw the facility where they were keeping you. Are you alright?"

John glanced to where Jacob and Henry were watching him, and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I had some help. Some good people helped me."

"Myself as well. And you're feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Daniel... the people that captured me figured out how to turn them, they turned the men who helped me escape. If that place still has samples of my blood - "

"They don't. I searched when we were there. Nearly everything was destroyed when you escaped. I drank the rest."

He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard that kind of weariness in Daniel's voice. "Are you feeling alright?"

There was a brief pause. Then his voice was even quieter, shaking with effort. "I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, John. I... I really need you."

John tugged aside the curtain to glance at the sky. Too close to daylight for Daniel to move. "Are you safe, where you are? I'll come to you. Tell me where you are, I'll come right away - "

"The address? I - "

"Not over the phone!" barked a voice in the background, similar enough to Daniel's that John was momentarily confused. "Put me back on. We'll formulate a plan."

"Of course. John?"

"I heard. Be strong, okay? Rest, stay out of the sunlight. I'll be with you as soon as I can, I promise."

"I will. John... I love you."

John's heart spasmed painfully, and he tried to push away the dark cloud of fear that threatened to envelop him. As terrible as it had been to endure everything, the thought that had sustained him was that _Daniel was safe_. The knowledge that he was here on this terrible world, that he could be in danger.... "I love you more than anything. I'll get us home. Whatever it takes."

"Alright. Here's Jack."

There was a pause, and then that voice again - rougher, stronger, but still strangely reminiscent of Daniel's tones. "John. This is Jack. What kind of shape are you in?"

John glanced over to Jacob and Henry, feeling a rush of relief once again that they'd been so willing to help him. "Tip top."

"Good. Alright, here's what we're going to do."

~~~

 

Jacob had hoped that reaching Jack would finally allow him to finally relax. Instead he'd watched John's spirit dampen, the playful care he'd shown them turning to worry and focused determination. Moving during the day was too risky - not when Jack's crew was housebound until sundown, and not when John's city was tucked behind the earth, the effectiveness of its power-boosting machines stretched thin. He could tell that John didn't like it, but he couldn't deny that the possibility of being discovered in transit and leading them to people who couldn't be moved or effectively defended would be a mistake.

John had politely declined Henry's offer to feed, though Jacob had managed to convince him to take first shift sleeping. Then he'd settled on the couch with Henry to keep watch, taking turns letting their new awareness reach out into the world around the motel, trying to detect any kind of trouble.

"Do we go with him?" Henry asked softly, finally, and Jacob sighed.

"I don't know if I can answer that yet."

Henry nodded slowly, generous lips pursing. "Yeah. I mean, it's one thing to commit to going on the run together by helping him, but leaving behind any chance of ever seeing your loved ones again...."

"It's not that. Henry, these abilities we have... yesterday morning when I left your house, I thought I understood the nature of the universe. I knew the scientific theory, I'd seen molecules through electron microscopes. I knew why elements bind together and the energy needed to break them apart. In theory. But being able to actually _know_... to have felt the building blocks of matter like we can now, to influence form and energy...." he let out a long breath, shaking his head. "Can you imagine the good we could do in the world?"

"I can," Henry replied quietly, eyebrows knitting together. "Just like I can imagine the harm. You know exactly what they intended to do with you at Groom Lake. They'd have locked you up like John and used you as a blood farm to make an army of little super soldiers."

"Then we won't let them catch us. We can take care of each other, can't we? And perhaps others, when we trust them. This could be the next stage in human evolution - "

"Or the downfall of civilization." Henry's eyebrows knit, and he reached a hand to cup Jacob's cheek, a soft wave of anguish coming from him. "I won't let them use me to make more weapons. I'd rather die."

"I know." Jacob returned the touch, stroking his fingers through Henry's hair, heart aching at his anguish and wanting nothing more than to soothe it. "I saw," he said gently, and Henry flushed, lowering his head. "I know the sacrifice you were ready to make for us. You could only bring a finite number of pills with you, with no guarantee of more. But we don't have to worry about that ever again. I'll take care of you. We'll take care of each other."

Henry let out a soft breath, cuddling into him and pressing a kiss to his temple. "You know we can't guarantee that. As nice as it sounds."

Jacob sighed as well, laying his head on his shoulder. "I know. If you really think we should go, I'll go with you. I just can't stop thinking about the good we could do."

"Like maybe finding a cure for cancer?" Henry's voice was gentle, but Jacob still felt a soft wave of remembered sorrow.

Of course he must have seen something, during those intimate moments of feeding. Certainly there was some measure of control over it, the pieces of his life that were so intimately shared. But Maggie had been so much a part... such bright joy, and such dark loneliness.....

"I'll stay with you," Henry said softly, kissing his hair. "If that's what you want, then... whatever it takes."

He still felt worried, but Jacob knew the offer was genuine. He lifted his head to brush a soft kiss to his lips. "I appreciate that. Let me think on it. We still have time. We still have to get out of here."

~~~


	13. Chapter 13

It was, as far as John's limited experience of clandestine activities went, a fairly reassuring plan. Jack was in touch someone who Jacob referred to as "one of his computer hacker geniuses", and she'd apparently spent the day trying to create "fake sightings" of them using altered photos on something called the "internet". Jack had said it would help to lure away anyone who might be looking for them onto very busy downtown part of the city and away from their motel. She'd also provided John with the schematics for devices that would look like _very_ functional explosive devices, which he'd placed in three of the very large casinos-hotels in the city. Vegas, Jacob had told him, painting a picture with words that was far more vivid than anything he could sense from a distance - shows, parties, drinking, gambling. And a very, very large amount of tourists.

Then it was just a matter of waiting until Jack's crew was well away from the city, waiting for his confirmation that he'd called in a bomb scare, and slipping out of the city in the resulting chaos.

"What can I do?" Jacob asked, after John had outlined the plan.

John regarded both of his beautiful fledglings, considering. Despite everything he'd shown them, it would be too risky to rely on them as combatants. But it would be a mistake not to utilize them in some way. "Which one of you is the better driver?"

Jacob jerked a thumb towards Henry, his smile rueful.

John nodded, and placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Then you'll drive. Stay completely in the here and now while you do. Don't try to use your abilities, you're both too inexperienced to be able to reliably access them along with your regular senses. Jacob, your job is to maintain a buffer around the vehicle. Make sure we don't hit anything, make sure nothing hits us. In the meantime try and trace your awareness out along the routes, both of you. Get a feel for it. Do you think you can do that?"

Jacob considered his words, closing his eyes briefly, and John could feel the slightest shift of energy, like he was testing and probing the space around him. Then he nodded. "Yes."

"Good." John stepped forward to wrap his arms around both their shoulders. "I'll get us out of this. You saved me. I promise I'll return the favor."

Jacob smiled and nodded. Then he leaned closer, and while his expression was unassuming, John was familiar enough with the hint of suggestion in his voice. "Do you need a top-up before we set out?"

John glanced to Henry; the other man's lush lips parted invitingly at the suggestion. It had been hard to even consider it, as distracted as he'd been by the knowledge that Daniel was _here_ and _in danger_ , but now, with their escape plan carefully formulated....

"I suppose it would be the responsible thing to do," he replied, and leaned in to kiss Jacob's smiling lips.

 

Finally, two hours after sundown, the call came through on his phone. "The others are clear of the city and fourty-five minutes from the rendezvous point," the woman said without preamble. "Both your primary and backup routes are clear of heavy traffic. Are you ready?"

John reached for the familiar hum of the city's machines; even across the distance, he could feel the reassuring boost of power. "As I'll ever be."

"Good. Activate the devices."

They were farther away than he normally liked to work, but it was easy enough now to send his mind down the three paths it had traveled throughout the day. A soft twist was all it took to turn on the clock timers and do away with enough of the devices' housing that they would look like the weapons of destruction they needed them to be. "Done."

"Good. Sending the call."

There was silence for several moments. It took a little effort to keep his awareness stretched out like this, but less than retreating and returning, so he mentally tied a tendril of his awareness around each fake bomb like an anchor and tried to relax. Finally the voice in his head spoke again. "Allright, Murdoch, do your thing. I'll stay on the com and monitor activity for you."

"Much appreciated," John murmured, deftly locating and pulling three fire alarms, then pulling his awareness back. He smiled at the others. "Here we go."

They waited a few minutes longer for news of their fabricated attacks to spread, to activate the city's emergency services to the core. Then Henry unlocked the motel room door, and they started across the parking lot toward the van. John placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder and let himself focus on the area around them, checking to see if anyone's attention was on them, if anyone would see when he Tuned the vehicle.

He felt the shiver of disturbance almost too late, barely reacting in time to bat away the speeding dart to land on the pavement beside them. "Run!" he commanded, sending out a burst of power in a surge of panic, blanketing the area with sleep. Then another dart whizzed towards him - how far away were they? He dealt with it, tracing it to its source as Jacob shoved him into the back of the car, disabling the gun with a twist of his mind. There was more, though, a hail of bullets aimed at the car's tires that he barely managed to deflect, and he pushed the envelope of sleep out further.

Henry started the car. "John?"

"They had eyes on us," he responded, a little distractedly. "Continue as planned."

"What do we do? We can't let them follow us," Jacob responded, echoing the voice in his ear.

"You'll have to lose them on the road," Chloe said. "I'm accessing the traffic cams - "

"Just keep driving," John responded. "We'll lose them. Match the speed of the cars around them, just drive natural. Chloe, can you disable the cameras?"

"I can back door into the system, but then I won't be able to help you."

"It's fine. You know that game with the cups and the pea underneath? We're going to have a nice little game of that."

Were there vehicles in pursuit? It was hard to tell without examining every one of them in detail, and he had no time for that kind of focus. "Cameras are out along your routes and five others," said the voice in his ear.

"Good. Henry, change lanes."

With a twist of his mind, he changed the vehicle they were in, mirroring the car ahead of them, switching the plates. The utility van beside them was easy enough to shift into their former likeness. "Change back."

"Gonna be some car owners losing their shit tonight when they get a look at their cars," Henry murmured, and Jacob gave a short, answering laugh that was no mirth and all stress.

"We'll be fine," John told them, though his mind was already elsewhere, swapping the form of the vehicle again with the one in front of them.

"John." Chole's voice was urgent. "I have two - no, three choppers scrambling, heading your way."

"Dammit. Henry, drop back."

"What?"

"Get in the slow lane, let this bunch get ahead of us." He reached ahead of them and shifted another vehicle into the form of their van, along with several others out along the major freeways in the city. Moments later he heard the whir of the choppers overhead, and it took all his self control to resist the urge to take them out. Not over a populated area like this, not when it would confirm they were there....

"Still taking the freeway?"

"Stick to the route unless I direct you otherwise," John replied. He resisted the urge to feel relieved as the car picked up speed in the sea of vehicles around them. The helicopters seemed to be moving in large, sweeping search circles, and he tried to follow all three of them, twisting and updating reality where he could.

He tuned a car going southbound on their route just as one of the helicopters was passing it, and felt the helicopter adjust course to follow. One of the others veered towards it as well; on the way it passed a conveniently tall building, so John neatly diverted it to land on the roof, dissolving the rotor blades with a thought.

"They weren't happy about whatever you just did," said Chloe in his ear. "More choppers headed your way."

"Dammit," John muttered, and heard the rumble of the third chopper overhead again.

Henry was beginning to sound slightly panicked. "John?"

"Keep driving," he ordered, keeping track of the chopper, switching the cars around them again as soon as the helicopter overhead seemed to be out of sight. "Change lanes."

He focused his awareness back on the decoy that the helicopter was following, feeling a headache start to form at the base of his skull. It was to much to track, too many places to be at the same time. But they had to make it out, they had to.....

"Change of plans. Jacob. Can you look ahead? Travel down one of the freeway exits. Find us a nice little empty house with an empty garage. Direct Henry there like we're just coming home from a show."

"And if the owners come home?"

"We'll deal with that if it happens. Go."

With that he closed his eyes and let himself focus purely on Tuning, shutting out the voices in the car. He'd learned enough about the city's electrical grid that he reached for it now; one of his decoys had traveled east; he took out a transformer in the area, casting the quadrant into hopefully suspicious darkness. In the other direction, he changed his decoy again, hopefully keeping its following chopper engaged.

When he realized that Chloe was yelling in his ear, he didn't know how long she'd been doing it. "Goddammit John, come in! Where the fuck are you, you can't - "

"I'm here. What?"

"They're blockading the freeways! If you stop now you'll never get out!"

Panic surged through him. "Stay on the freeway!"

"But - "

"Don't stop!" he yelled, feeling the vehicle swerve as Henry barely managed to get off the off-ramp before it split.

"John, where do we - "

"Original route," he barked, then reached out with his mind again.

The city was big, but handling an entire city wasn't exactly new to him. He let his mind follow along the major highway in front of his active decoy. "Sorry, this is gonna get messy," he murmured, following the lanes of slowing cars until he found the caravan of army vehicles, sandbags and troops. With a thought he dissolved everything but the people, shoving them out of the way of the traffic and hoping his decoy would continue.

He could access a little more of the city's machines as the moon rose overhead, but they were so far away, and there was so much left to do....

"John, the traffic ahead of us...."

"I know," he muttered distractedly, reaching out and removing the blockade ahead of them. Then he reached for the one on the freeway to the west, fighting past the stabbing pain and exhaustion to do the same. It had to be enough to hide their true whereabouts and their destination. He couldn't lead them to Daniel, he couldn't....

"Jacob. Once we get past city limits - if we cut the headlights and drive blind, can you guide the car safely?"

"Yes. But - "

"Good. Do it." John murmured, vaguely hearing both Henry and Chloe calling his name as the blackness swarmed in and overwhelmed him.

~~~


	14. Chapter 14

"John?" Henry glanced towards the back seat just in time to see the other man slump over. "Shit. Jacob, he's down. Jacob?"

In the passenger's seat, his lover's eyebrows furrowed, eyes closed, concentrating. His lips thinned. "Get off the freeway."

"But - "

"Trust me. We won't get through ahead. They're still stopping traffic. People stop for men in combat gear."

"Jesus." Henry glanced at the sign for the approaching off ramp. "We can't wait it out. They'll just bring in reinforcements."

"We're not waiting. Trust me. Take the ramp, go west."

Henry gripped the wheel tighter and took the ramp, stomach churning each time he heard a chopper pass overhead. The traffic had grown lighter the closer they'd gotten to the outskirts of the city. Harder to hide in. He hadn't felt the pull of the beast since he'd gotten back onto regular schedule with his meds, but this amount of stress made him even more nervous....

He heard the whir of a chopper come closer, then remain constant. He fought to keep from stepping harder on the gas. "I think they're following us. Jacob?"

"We're fine." Jacob blinked his eyes open, reaching out to press a soothing hand to his arm. "Halfway down the next block is a gated entrance to a townhouse complex. Slow down. Turn in there."

"We might be sitting ducks."

 

"We'll be fine. We're just a normal citizen returning home."

He felt a flicker of Jacob's power as he turned into the driveway, the gate ahead of them opening smoothly and naturally. He drove through the lot until he spotted an empty stall in the covered carpark, then backed in smoothly and cut the ignition.

Henry held his breath. Overhead, the chopper continued on, the noise fading.

Jacob exhaled, tension leaving his shoulders. Then he looked to Henry. "Can you make this car look like one of the trucks from the base? Are you familiar enough with them to do that? Just a small one, but hefty enough for off-roading. John said drive dark. I think we do more than that. There's offroading tracks out towards the canyon. That's how we get out."

Henry let out a long breath. Could he? John had walked him through creating and transforming on a small scale, giving him the ability to replicate his meds and break his reliance on the government once and for all. "I'll try. I think I need to get out, though."

Jacob stepped out as well, joining him at the front of the car and scanning the area. It seemed quiet. Henry could only hope that some little old granny wasn't looking out her window. He focused on the car in front of him, reaching out with his new sense to catch hold of the molecular makeup of the vehicle, the metal cooling around the warmer form of John in the back seat. He tried to bring to memory the heavy-duty trucks he'd ridden in on base, the look and colour and _feel_ of them, urging reality to shift, to change and match those memories...

"Perfect," Jacob murmured, and Henry's focus cleared to the sight of the vehicle he needed. He had what looked like two large wool coats wrapped in foil draped over his arm, and he handed one to Henry. "I'm going to have to keep the vehicle cold in case they're using infra-red."

Henry pulled on the coat, recognizing the outside layer. "Space blankets?"

Jacob nodded. "I'll wrap up John." He paused, then turned into Henry, looking up at him seriously. "You were right. We can't stay here. We'll go with John and Daniel."

The soft feelings of distress and disappointment he could feel with Jacob in such close proximity made his heart ache. Henry wrapped an arm around his waist and drew him close, pressing a kiss to his hair. "We can find a way to keep each other safe. We can fake our deaths or something, we - "

"We can't do the world any good if we're always hiding." Jacob let out a long breath, cuddling closer. "Just... maybe sometime in the future... a few decades... then we can come back?"

"I'm sure we can."

Henry tried to reach his awareness out as Jacob secured John in the back seat. He couldn't hear any of the choppers, but it was hard to accurately sense anything beyond the houses around them. He looked over at Jacob as he slipped into the front seat. "Can you see if we're safe to go?"

Jacob paused for a moment. Then he gave a small nod, leaning over the front console to press a soft kiss to Henry's mouth. "Let's go."

Their drive down the last few blocks of the city was blessedly quiet, marked with only a few pass-bys from residents who eyed the truck curiously. At the end of the block the headlights of the truck reflected off two construction barricades. Henry cut the headlights as they approached, reaching out with his mind to cut the wires to the brake lights as well. Jacob was already pushing the barricades aside, and Henry calmly took the truck up over the curb, gravel crunching under the wheels as they silently crept into the darkness of the desert.

 

~~~

John was freezing when he awoke, the world around him black with night. The only point of warmth was the wrist pressed to his mouth, his lips already parted instinctively, sucking at the spicy sweetness of the blood that trickled onto his tongue. Henry.

As soon as the spike in the back of his skull had shrunk enough for him to Tune, he closed the hole in Henry's skin and broke away. "I can't. I've already taken too much from you today, I...."

"I'm fine," Henry tried to argue, but John shook his head, pushing himself up to sit fully upright. He could just see Henry perched on the back seat beside him in the faint light of the moon hung just visible past the mountain, and he leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips, pushing away the desire for more.

"I'm good for now. Good until we find Daniel. Are we almost there? Why did we stop? And why is it so cold?"

He was wrapped in a thick wool blanket with a hood, he noticed, with a strange, silvery layer of foil over top of it, and Henry and Jacob were similarly attired. Jacob leaned in through the open door. "I was worried about thermal imaging, so we've been running cold and blind. Offroad. We're about to hit the highway again. We thought we should stop to check on you and make sure we'd lost the pursuit."

With the fortification of Henry's blood, John let his awareness reach back towards the city. Only a handful of vehicles on the highway, and no hint of anything overhead in their vicinity. "We're fine. Let's get going."

They crunch of gravel under the wheels eventually gave way to pavement again. The road grew winding, elevation growing steadily steeper, the scrub of the desert turning to trees around them. Finally they pulling onto another bumpy service road overgrown with foliage. John sent his awareness out ahead, finally sensing the existence of a small delivery truck parked dark and silent in the brush, and it was all he could do to not physically pull them to it as fast as possible.

The rear door of the truck rolled up open as they finally pulled up, a figure coming into view in the dim light that was more familiar and cherished to him than anyone else in existence. John jumped out of the truck before Henry had even put it into park, rushing to the van to catch Daniel in his arms as he stumbled down. "Oh god," he gasped, catching Daniel's mouth with his own, fingers tangled in his clothes as he pulled him tight against him. The physical contact came with a rush of relief, everything around him fading into the sensation of Daniel - sunshine and honey and warmth. Daniel's mouth moved to his neck instinctively, and John could feel his body's ache for sustenance so strongly that it was nearly overwhelming.

"John...." Daniel's fingers clenched at his back, voice rough with emotion. 

He curled his fingers in Daniel's hair and his tilted his head more. "Drink. Please."

Daniel gave a desperate little moan as his mouth fastened to his throat, their connection coming back in a rush as he pierced into his skin. A shudder of the sweetest sensation rushed through his body, and he could feel Daniel trembling, pulling from him desperately, lost in the feeding. Nothing in the world could match this intimacy - Daniel's emotions quivering with his, pulsing with the beat of his heart and the flow of his blood, and it was more vibrant in that moment than ever before after the fear of never having this again.

As Daniel finally released him he pulled his attention back to the physical world with great effort, forcing his mind back to reality, to the people around them and the danger they were still in. It was agony when all he wanted to do was hold Daniel to him and never let go, to be one with him, to make up for the time they'd been forced apart. "We need to leave as soon as we can. The people that had me are too determined to harness our powers. They're ruthless, Daniel, we were such fools to think that we'd ever be safe here...."

"Shh..." Daniel's kiss was soft and reassuring. "I know, I know. Take from me so we can go home," he murmured, pulling aside his collar. "I'll be fine now that you're here."

"Alright." He pressed his face to the crook of Daniel's neck, breathing deep for a moment, sucking at his skin and letting his physical senses completely focus on the man in his arms, the familiar, luscious scent, the warmth of his body and the slight saltiness of his skin. Then he pierced it, overwhelmed by the sweetness and power in his maker's blood as it filled his mouth.

He could see how frightened his lover had felt, how desperate he'd been to find him again. The lengths he'd gone to. Flashes of places, cities, faces. The pain he'd felt as his supply of John's blood had run out. He felt a soft rush of shame from his lover, followed by the revelation of his attempts to sate his hunger with a man from this world who called himself _vampire_.

He tried to reassure Daniel with emotion, sharing the details of his own rescue and the necessary intimacy with his two young fledglings. Finally he reached out with a touch of power to the wound, stopping the blood, and he pressed his face to Daniel's hair, trying to catch his breath.

"We'll be okay," he murmured, because he had to believe it. "We're together now. All we have to do is get home."

~~~

 

Henry watched John and Daniel as he slowly got out of the car, the emotion between the two reunited lovers so strong it was almost tangible. He glanced to Jacob to find him watching as well, quietly studying them before turning his gaze to Henry and giving him a soft smile. There was an unspoken realization there - this is what things will be like for us - and despite the warmth of Jacob's smile, Henry couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. He'd felt the pull, the intimacy brought on by the blood exchange, and the idea of being in such a symbiotic partnership with someone - being their sustenance, their everything - was a heady one. If it had been anyone but Jacob....

"Jacob?" A man stepped out of the cab of the truck, muscular form and short blonde hair illuminated in the light from inside the cab as he made his way back towards them. He was followed by a slightly smaller figure, a young man in a long trench coat with his white blonde hair spiked, and something about him made Henry think that he wasn't quite human.

"Jack!" Jacob moved forward quickly and caught the man in an unexpected embrace. Jack chuckled softly and pressed a kiss to his cheek before releasing him. "How on earth did you get caught up in this mess?"

For a moment, Henry could only stare. From flashes of Daniel he'd seen in John's memories, he was familiar with this face. But he hadn't expected to see it on three of them....

Jack nodded to the boy beside him. "I owed a friend a favor. This is David. David - this is Doctor Jacob Hood. I worked with him briefly with the FBI."

David nodded, taking him in through narrowed eyes. "You're not human," he said bluntly, not offering any niceties. "You're whatever Daniel is. Some kind of half vamipre. Him too," he stated, inclining his head to Henry as he joined them.

Jacob gave a little nod and folded his arms across his chest. "They wanted to study the change, so they injected me with some of John's blood. Henry rescued us both, he's one of the head physicians at Groom Lake."

"Was," Henry corrected with a mirthless half smile. "Not certain they'd be so happy to see me now."

"Or very happy, for entirely the wrong reasons," Jacob replied. He let out a long breath. "We're leaving with them, Jack. We can't stay here. They'll never stop looking for us."

"I can get you out of the country...." Jack started, and Jacob shook his head.

"I appreciate that. But you don't need to have any more attention on you. Any association we have - anyone who's close to us - they'll never be safe as long as we're here. God, the lengths that they went to in Vegas...."

Jack's lips thinned, but he nodded. "I understand."

"Well, damn. I almost don't want to leave now." Behind them, John approached with Daniel, looking over the men in front of them appreciatively. Then he glanced to Daniel. "There really are three of you? I was sure I had to be mistaken...."

Daniel smiled. "This is David and Jack. They've helped me immensely. More than I can ever adequately thank them for."

"The most gorgeous assistance I've ever laid eyes on." John stepped forward, unashamedly appreciative, and offered his hand to both of them. "Anything I can do to thank you...."

"I'd suggest we start with an orgy, but I doubt we have time," David replied with a smirk, gaze moving over John appreciatively, then sliding to Jacob. Henry forced himself to push away a soft wave of jealousy. He heard Jacob chuckle softly, cuddling in closer and leaning up to press a soft, reassuring kiss to Henry's cheek.

"If you truly want to stay we can fake your death," Daniel said, looking at them. "You can leave the country with Jack. John and I will send your truck back down the mountain with some bodies for them to find...."

John's nose wrinkled in distaste. "I hate making bodies."

"I'll take care of that," Daniel replied, giving him a gentle smile. Then he looked back to Jacob and Henry. "You are more than welcome with us. But don't feel like you have no choice."

Jacob let out a long breath, then shook his head. "As long as we're here there's too great a chance that we'll be found out. We need to go."

"Henry. You better take good care of him." Jack's voice was low and gruff.

Henry nodded. "I give you my word."

Jacob smiled at him, then pulled away to give Jack a tight hug. "Come with us? Chloe said you're on the run, too...."

Jack nodded. "I'm fine. I appreciate the offer. But... the man I told you about, Jacob, he's still alive. He's waiting for me."

Whoever the man was, Jacob's spark of incredulous happiness at the news told Henry all he needed to know. "I'm so glad," Jacob said, and pressed a kiss to Jack's cheek before stepping back. "So happy for you. You deserve that."

Jack nodded. "I'm glad I got to see you again."

"So that's a definite no to the orgy...?" David's smile was still hopeful, and Daniel laughed, pushing past John to give him a hug and a brief, sweet kiss.

"Get home safe to your boys," he said, smiling. "Thank them for me. And thank you. For everything."

"It was a grand adventure," David replied with a grin and a shrug. "Don't suppose there's any way you can let us know that you got home safe?"

"Perhaps..." Daniel stepped back, pulling a pocketwatch from his vest and checking the time. "Tomorrow night at this time I'll send a red light in front of the moon. Watch for it?"

"I won't miss it."

Daniel turned to Jack next. "Hold out your hands for me. Let me keep my promise."

"Thanks," Jack replied, glancing to Jacob. "New fingerprints," he said in explanation.

Daniel nodded, placing his hands over Jack's, focusing briefly. Then he smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to Jack's cheek as well. "Done. Thank you for your help, Jack. Take care."

Jack's response was gruffly affectionate. "You too, spaceman."

John had already stepped away, and when they returned to the rear of the truck there was a large metal pod sitting ahead of them on the road, gleaming dull in the moonlight. He turned to Daniel. "I crashed on the way down, but I think it was just because I was trying to concentrate on too many things at once. If you can propel us I can guide us and keep watch for anything they might throw at us if we're detected?"

Daniel nodded. "I did too. But I'm sure we can handle it together." He stepped aside as the truck backed out of the brush, inching past the parked army jeep and starting down the mountain. "We'll give them a few minutes to get well away."

"We'll be fine," Jacob said softly, leaning in to press a kiss to Henry's cheek, though he hadn't quite realized how anxious he felt until that moment. His lover smiled. "Didn't you ever want to be an astronaut when you were a kid?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Henry replied. He gave Jacob a smile and tightened his arm around his waist. "Just didn't expect it to quite be like this. Still... gonna be a hell of a thing, to see the earth from space."

He watched the pod shift in front of him as he spoke, narrow windows forming in the metal, and John caught his eye with wink. "Go ahead and get in. We'll follow once we've taken care of the truck."

Jacob stepped towards the pod, but Henry hesitated, looking around them, taking in the shape of the trees in the darkness, breathing deep of the cool mountain air. He looked at John. "There's trees in your city, right?"

"There's anything you want there to be," John replied with a soft smile. "But yes. Trees, and ocean, and a beautiful, sunny beach town."

"Good." Still, he reached down to drag his fingers along the dirt, letting the small pebbles run between his fingers, catching a small stone and tucking it into his pocket. Then he joined Jacob at the mouth of the pod, taking one last deep breath of the air before stepping inside, buckling himself into one of the four seats that sat in a ring, facing the thick outer wall of the pod.

"Can we help?" Jacob asked as the others got in.

"Just watch for bogeys. Like you did with the car. Daniel and I will handle the rest."

Henry nodded, closing his eyes and expanding his awareness. He half-expected the rush of energy that accompanied the take off a plane, or the count-down of a space shuttle. Instead there was nothing but a touch of pressure, of air rushing past the pod, growing colder as they climbed.

Finally John spoke. "Open your eyes."

The bright, glowing stretch of the pacific ocean stretched out in front of them, the line of the sunset curving along the planet. So huge and grand compared to himself. So indescribably beautiful. Despite knowing that leaving was the right decision he still felt a pang of sorrow. Would they ever see it again?

Jacob reached out from the chair beside him to find his hand, squeezing gently, and Henry felt a soft wave of reassurance. They'd find a way back, someday. When they'd become more secure in their new abilities. When enough time had passed that the people who would abuse those powers had stopped looking for them. They'd go back and help humanity in ways that no-one else could. Earth would always be home.

Until then, he let himself relax into the knowledge that he was among friends. That he'd gained the type of freedom he'd never allowed himself to even hope for. And, somehow, the amazing, beautiful love of the incomparable Jacob Hood.

The monster that haunted him was still silent in the matter. Perhaps for even good.

Henry could live with that.

~~~

**Author's Note:**

> Will slowly post more chapters as I edit them for 5-year-old quality. :s Encourage me with comment love? :D


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